213 General discussion between specific types of medication and perceived intra-oral dryness in specific regions of the mouth. Potentially, this could help dentists and general practitioners to considered whether it is possible to substitute a medication by a similar one with fewer oral side-effects. Not only should the perceived intra-oral dryness be studied in more detail, but it is also very important to investigate the salivary film and MUC5B levels in dry-mouth patients. In particular, the possible relationship between the perceived intra-oral dryness and the salivary film (thickness) at various intraoral locations should be explored thoroughly. Such a study would improve our understanding of the distribution of saliva in the oral cavity and dry-mouth perception in patients with a dry mouth. An important question that could be answered is whether the salivary film (thickness), MUC5B-levels and MUC5Bglycosilation affect the perceived dryness at specific intra-oral locations. In this thesis, novel insights about factors affecting the use of dry-mouth interventions are presented. However, additional studies are needed; for example, to further explore the use of dry-mouth interventions among various patient groups. New research could also focus on the efficacy of current and new interventions. Besides, the preferences for new saliva substitutes by medication induced dry-mouth patients should be explored further. This informationmight contribute tomore effective treatment of dry-mouth patients in the future. Preferably, all knowledge about dry-mouth and diagnostic tools will become digitally available for clinicians. A digital application could systematically combine information from all applied diagnostic tools, and advice about treatment options based on the information provided. This will simplify dry-mouth diagnosis and could result in more effective dry-mouth interventions. 10
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