51 Differences in perceived intra-oral dryness whole saliva (UWS), chewing-stimulated whole saliva (CH-SWS), and citric acidstimulated whole saliva (A-SWS). The extracted data were pseudonymized so they could no longer be traced back to the patients. Because some questionnaires or salivary variables were incomplete, the total number (N) for some of the collected data differs. After data entry, one researcher (ZA) verified that data transfer for all records was correct. Study variables Questionnaires When they visited the saliva clinic, all patients returned the prefilled questionnaires, including the Xerostomia Inventory (XI), the Regional Oral Dryness Inventory (RODI), and the European Medical Risk-Related History questionnaire. The XI consists of 11 items on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = “Never” to 5 = “Very often.” The items concern patients’ oral dryness and mouth feel. Per item, patients indicate how often they experience problems regarding mouth feel and oral dryness. The scores of the 11 items are summed to produce a total XI score that ranges between 11 (no xerostomia) and 55 (extreme xerostomia) [15]. The RODI questionnaire contains nine schematic illustrations of different locations in the oral cavity [13]. In our study, we used a slightly modified version with eight regions, excluding the throat. Four illustrations show areas in the upper jaw: the upper lip, the posterior part of the palate (from the rugae up to the end of the soft palate), the anterior part of the palate (including the rugae), and the inside part of the cheeks. The other four illustrations represent areas in the lower jaw: the lower lip, the anterior part of the tongue (from the tip of the tongue up to the vallate papilla), the posterior part of the tongue (from the vallate papilla up to end of the tongue), and the floor of the mouth. At each location, the patient uses a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = “No dryness” to 5 = “severe dryness” to indicate the severity of the oral dryness they perceive [13]. The European Medical Risk-Related History questionnaire is an internationally validated patient-administered questionnaire that is used to map a patient’s current health status [16, 17]. On the basis of their health status, patients were allocated to the following groups: controls, patients using limited medication, patients using multiple medications, irradiated patients, irradiated patients using multiple medications, Sjögren syndrome patients, and Sjögren patients using multiple medications (Table 1 for further details). 3
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