Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a clinical oral dryness score (CODS) for routine use in assessment of xerostomia patients and determine its relationship with salivary flow rates and mucosal wetness.
Study design: CODS was determined from 10 features of oral dryness, each scoring as 1 point for a total score of 0-10. CODS, salivary flow rates, and mucosal wetness were measured in 100 patients and 50 healthy control subjects. The reproducibility of CODS was 0.89-0.96 (intraclass correlation coefficient).
Results: The mean ± SD CODS in patients was 6.0 ± 1.6 compared with 1.0 ± 0.9 for control subjects (P < .001), and the highest mean value was in the primary Sjögren syndrome group. There was a general inverse relationship in patients between mean CODS and salivary flow rate (P < .01) and mean CODS and mucosal wetness (P < .01).
Conclusions: The CODS was found to be useful, easy to use, and reliable for routine assessment of the severity of dry mouth.
Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.