Aim: To assess subjectively and objectively the oral mucosa moisture in completely edentulous patients. To determine and compare the correlation of two different in-vivo techniques in measuring oral mucosa moisture.
Materials and Methods: A questionnaire comprising of 11 standard questions from “Xerostomia Inventory” were translated to regional language and used as subjective assessment. An oral moisture checking device was used for objective assessment. The sites selected for assessment were buccal, dorsal lingual and palatal mucosa.
Results: Thirty patients of which 63% were > 60 years old and 37% were < 60 years old. There was a positive correlation between the subjective and objective methods of assessment. In this study, mean value for saliva wetness on the buccal mucosa was observed to be 27.1(+/- 5.1) and median of 29.0. The mean value for saliva wetness on the palatal mucosa was observed to be 16.7 (+/-3.7) median of 16.5. The mean value for saliva wetness on the dorsal lingual mucosa was observed to be 22.4. (+/-5.3) median of 21.1. It was observed that buccal and lingual mucosa were more reliable sites than palatal mucosa for objective assessment when correlated with subjective method. The normal range of oral moisture in healthy complete edentulous patients was found to be between 26 to 32. The oral moisture checking device measures the amount of moisture not only on the oral mucosal surface, but also in the epithelium, it provides a more accurate measure of the moisture status (dryness) of the oral mucosa than does saliva flow rate.
Conclusion: The moisture checking device can be used for screening patients for oral dryness.