Salivary changes and dental caries as potential oral markers of autoimmune salivary gland dysfunction in primary Sjögren's syndrome

Table 1 Anamnestic data and results of self-assessed oral dryness of the female patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) and the female healthy controls. Results are given as number of patients or scores (yes/no) and as means ± SD.

	pSS (n = 20)	Healthy controls (n = 20)	P-value
Age (years)	60 ± 15	56 ± 13	0.437^a
Duration of disease (years)*	6 ± 7	0	NA
Duration of symptoms (years)	10 ± 7	0	NA
Xerogenic medicines (yes/no)^†	7/13	0/20	NA
Smokers (yes/no)^§	5/15	0/20	NA
Cigarettes per day (smokers only)^§	7 (2–20)	0	NA
Tooth brushing (times per day)	3 ± 1	2 ± 1	0.001^a
Dental floss and/or toothpicks daily (yes/no)	16/4	15/5	1.000^b
Dental visits per year (number)	3 ± 1	2 ± 1	0.001^a
Oral dryness (score 0/1/2/3)	0/3/4/13	20/0/0/0	<0.001^b

* The time from established diagnosis to present examination. ^†Patients were interviewed regarding their intake of medicines. Their intake of xerogenic medicines included antidepressants, antihistamines and β-blocking agents [20]. ^§Patients were also interviewed regarding their smoking habits, since cigarette smoking has been shown to reduce the extent of labial salivary gland lymphocytic infiltration [23] and to have a negative impact on periodontal status. Smoking, however, has no impact on salivary flow or composition [24].
P-values obtained by a two-sample t-test (a) and Fisher exact test (b). NA; not analyzed.

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