191 Preferences of Sjögren’s syndrome patients for saliva substitutes Table 1 describes the opinion of Sjögren’s syndrome patients regarding the importance of different functions of saliva substitutes. Most of the possible functions were considered important (score ≥ 4), while functions such as “provides fast alleviation of dry mouth”, “gives prolonged alleviation of dry mouth”, “protects the mucosa”, “facilitates speaking”, “neutralizes harmful bacteria”, and “optimizes the mouth flora” were considered very important (score ≥ 4.5). On the other hand, functions such as “available in different flavours” and “can be used unnoticed” were considered relatively less important. The two age groups did not show any significant differences regarding possible functions of saliva substitutes (Mann–Whitney U test p > 0.05). Respondents with a more severe xerostomia, indicated by a higher XI score, considered the function “gives a prolonged alleviation of dry mouth” more important than the lower XI-group (mean = 4.73 ± 0.83, median = 5.0 ± 5.0–5.0, N = 30, versus mean = 4.55 ± 0.63, median = 5.0 ± 4.0–5.0, N = 29, Mann–Whitney U test p < 0.05). All other functions did not show any significant difference for the two XI-groups. Table 1: Sjögren’s syndrome patients opinon regarding the importance of the potential functions of saliva substitutes, using a Likertscale (from 1= “Unimportant’’ to 5= “Very important’’). Data are expressed as as mean score with standard deviation (SD.) andmedian scores with the corresponding interquartile range (IQR). N indicates the number of participants in each group. Possible functions Total mean ± SD. (N) Total median ± IQR Helps to prevent tooth decay 4.03 ± 1.36 (N=59) 5.0 ± 3.0-5.0 Helps painful swallowing 4.15 ± 1.20 (N=59) 5.0 ± 5.0-4.0 Provides fast alleviation of dry mouth 4.49 ± 1.01 (N=59) 5.0 ± 5.0-4.0 Gives prolonged alleviation of dry mouth 4.64 ± 0.74 (N=59) 5.0 ± 5.0-4.0 Protects the mucosa 4.49 ± 0.88 (N=59) 5.0 ± 5.0-4.0 Treats bleeding gingiva 3.54 ± 1.29 (N=59) 4.0 ± 5.0-3.0 Facilitates speaking 4.48 ± 1.02 (N=59) 5.0 ± 5.0-4.0 Improves the taste 3.95 ± 1.15 (N=58) 4.0 ± 5.0-3.0 Available in different flavours 3.09 ± 1.38 (N=59) 3.0 ± 4.0-2.0 Stimulates saliva secretion 4.41 ± 0.97 (N=59) 5.0 ± 5.0-4.0 Neutralizes harmful bacteria 4.63 ± 0.79 (N=59) 5.0 ± 5.0-4.0 Optimizes the mouth flora 4.60 ± 0.77 (N=58) 5.0 ± 5.0-4.0 Contains natural saliva enzymes 4.17 ± 1.09 (N=58) 5.0 ± 3.8-5.0 Gives a balanced pH 4.29 ± 0.86 (N=58) 4.5 ± 5.0-4.0 Is practical and handy in use 4.46 ± 0.95 (N=57) 5.0 ± 5.0-4.0 Can be used with little effort 4.40 ± 0.90 (N=58) 5.0 ± 5.0-4.0 Can be used unnoticed 2.98 ± 1.54 (N=59) 3.0 ± 4.0-2.0 9
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