Dry mouth: a study targets the responsible drugs

The links between medical treatments and dry mouth in older people are not well understood by scientists. And yet, this dryness can lead to problems chewing, eating, swallowing, and even speaking. In addition, dry mouth (or xerostomia) increases the risk of developing cavities and oral infections. Indeed, saliva is essential to keep the lining of the mouth (the “oral mucosa”) and teeth healthy: saliva cleans the mucous membrane and teeth (food debris and dead cells from the lining of the mouth. mouth and cheeks). It neutralizes the acids produced by dental plaque and prevents infections by reducing the number of bacteria and fungi.

Since dry mouth is a fairly common side effect of some medications, and is particularly common in older people, a team of researchers set out to review 52 studies on the issue.

Drugs for urinary incontinence or depression are singled out

Thanks to their research, including results have just been published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, they were able to determine what types of drugs were linked to these symptoms of dry mouth: drugs for urinary incontinence, depression, insomnia, and anxiety as well as certain diuretics used to fight against hypertension are singled out by researchers.

The researchers put particular emphasis on treatments for urinary incontinence, which would lead to six times more risk of xerostomia in a patient than the placebo.

The implications of this study could be numerous: first of all, immediately proposing compensation measures or changing the molecule if necessary. Additionally, if doctors are aware of the dry mouth symptoms of certain medications, it helps to avoid looking for other causes of xerostomia such as Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome, a generalized autoimmune disease that manifests itself as association of damage to the lacrimal and salivary glands, dry mouth and eyes, with damage to other organs: the pancreas, stomach and intestines, as well as the vagina.