Assessing dry mouth symptoms:development of a "Bother Index"

Objective: to design an index that assesses semi-quantitatively the degree patients are affected by their dry mouth condition and to determine whether the ‘Bother Index' correlates with different measures of dryness. Method: Two questionnaires were designed: (a) Bother 5: consisted of 5 questions about the severity of dry mouth and any psychological effect on the patient. (b) Bother 1: consisted of a single score from 0-10 on assessment of patient after explanation. The questionnaires were conducted by telephone for 90 healthy controls and 90 patients previously examined and shown by sialometry to have reduced Unstimulated Whole Mouth (UWM) salivary flow rate and increased Clinical Score of Oral Dryness (CSOD). Results: One way ANOVAs demonstrated that the two bother indices showed a highly significant difference between dry mouth patients and controls (Mean value ± SEM for bother 1 in patients was 6 ± 0.31 and in controls was 0.3 ± 0.07) and values were highly correlated with a coefficient of 0.88 (p<0.001). In dry mouth patients, the indices were inversely correlated with UWM flow rate (Bother 1: -0.62 correlation coefficient; bother 5: -0.55 correlation coefficient; p = .001). In contrast, there were a positive correlation with the CSOD patients with high CSOD showed a positive correlation with both of the two indices (Bother 1: 0.31 correlation coefficient; bother 5: 0.32 correlation coefficient p = .002). Conclusion: The two bother indices were significantly higher in patients with low UWM flow and can be used in the assessment and monitoring of dry mouth.