42 Chapter 2 body, for example the lips, the eyes, the skin, and the inside parts of the nose. As expected, XI items on extra-oral regions had poor correlations with regions of the RODI, whereas XI items related to dryness of the lips and difficulty in swallowing correlated higher with respectively upper and lower lip and pharynx of the RODI compared with all other regions. The regionally related CODS items also had a significant association with related regions in the RODI. This study has some limitations. The patients who participated in this study are patients referred to a specialized saliva clinic. These patients suffer from saliva-related complaints and might be more concerned about their oral dryness than average patients suffering from dry mouth. Therefore, the results of this study could not be generalised to healthy subjects and other patients with dry-mouth complaints yet, and further studies with the RODI in other groups of patients seem warranted. These subsequent studies could also explore different groups of patients, grouped according to the etiological factors for oral dryness. It is feasible that patients with oral dryness due to irradiation of the head and/or neck region might have another pattern of intra-oral dryness than patients suffering from Sjögren’s disease or medication-induced hyposalivation. MAIN CONCLUSIONS The present study suggests that there is a significant difference in dry-mouth feeling among different intra-oral locations, with the highest perceived oral dryness for the posterior palate and the lowest for the floor of the mouth. Introduction of the RODI might help to discriminate among different potential causes of oral dryness in patients and for evaluating the efficacy of mouthmoistening products.
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