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Salivary secretion and oral health in narcolepsy: A pilot study
Author(s) -
Nordgarden Hilde,
Jensen Janicke Liaane,
Arneberg Pål,
Storhaug Kari
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
special care in dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.328
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1754-4505
pISSN - 0275-1879
DOI - 10.1111/j.1754-4505.1996.tb00846.x
Subject(s) - narcolepsy , medicine , dry mouth , saliva , stimulant , oral cavity , physiology , gastroenterology , dentistry , psychiatry , neurology
Complaints of dry mouth and poor dental health are common in persons with narcolepsy. The aim of this study was to investigate whether salivary secretion is reduced in narcolepsy. Persons using tricyclic anti‐depressants (TCAs) were excluded, since TCAs are known to reduce salivary secretion. Thus, two patient subgroups were studied, one on central stimulant (CS) treatment (medicated group, n = 12), and one unrnedicated group (n = 8), representing all persons with narcolepsy living in the Oslo area meeting these criteria. The survey group and 20 age‐ and sex‐matched healthy control persons without symptoms of dry mouth were examined with respect to the following parameters: unstim‐ulated (UWS) and chewing‐stimulated (SWS) whole salivary flow rates, citric‐acid‐stimulated parotid and submandibular flow rates, buffering effect, and number of some aciduric micro‐organisms in the oral cavity. As a group, persons with narcolepsy had lower whole salivary flow rates, a lower buffering effect, and higher Candida albicans scores than the control group. When the patients were divided into the medicated and unmedicated groups, these differences were valid only for the medicated group. Whether the observed differences were effects of CS medication or reflected that these persons were more seriously affected by the disease has to be further explored .