A quantitative test for xerostomia. The saxon test, an oral equivalent of the schirmer test

✍ Scribed by Peter F. Kohler; Margaret E. Winter

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 334 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780281008

✦ Synopsis

We describe a simple, reproducible, and low-cost test for xerostomia, which involves chewing on a folded sterile sponge for 2 minutes. Saliva production is quantitated by weighing the sponge before and after chewing. Normal control subjects produced 22.75 gm of saliva in 2 minutes. Three of 32 consecutive, unselected outpatients in allergy-immunology clinics and 9 of 38 patients in rheumatology clinics had decreased saliva production, which was significantly different compared with controls (P < 0.01). The presence of sicca symptoms was highly correlated with quantitatively abnormal tear and saliva production, according to the results of the Saxon and Schirmer's tests.

Sjogren's syndrome is characterized clinically by dry eyes (keratoconjunctivitis sicca) and dry mouth (xerostomia) and histologically by a lymphoid cellular infiltration of the lacrimal and salivary glands. In approximately 40% of the patients with Sjogren's syndrome, the condition is primary, and in the remainder, it is associated with the presence of an autoimmune disease (1). Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the disease most frequently associated with secondary Sjogren's syndrome, which is estimated to occur in 15-20% of RA patients.