Clinical diagnosis of hyposalivation in hospitalized patients

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical criteria for the diagnosis of hyposalivation in hospitalized patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A clinical study was carried out on 145 subjects (48 males; 97 females; aged 20 to 90 years). Each subject was clinically examined, in the morning and in the afternoon, along 1 day. A focused anamnesis allowed identifying symptoms of hyposalivation, like xerostomia complaints (considered as a reference symptom), chewing difficulty, dysphagia and increased frequency of liquid intake. Afterwards, dryness of the mucosa of the c...