Prevalence of Xerostomia and its Related Factors in Patients Referred to Zahedan Dental School in Iran

Background: Xerostomia is a condition in which salivary secretion is reduced for various reasons. Some complications of the disease include tooth decay, burning mouth and atrophic mucosa. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of xerostomia and its related factors in patients referred to Zahedan dental school in Zahedan city, Iran. Patients andMethods: In this descriptive-analytical study, the questionnaires were completed for 400 patients (aged 20 71 years) referred to Zahedan dental school in 2007. They were examined by an oral medicine specialist and the criteria of xerostomia diagnosis included fissuring lip, pale and atrophic mucosa, smooth, red and depapillated tongue, complaining sticking lips together, cervical and top of teeth cusps caries and sticking tongue blade to mucosa. The presence of three criteria for at least a week and unstimulated salivary flow rate < 0.1 were necessary to confirm the disease. The data were analyzed using the chi-square test by the SPSS software version 16. Results: From a total of 400 patients, 211 cases (52.8%) were females and 189 (47.2%) were males, of which 143 persons (35.8%) affected