Dry Mouth and Clinical Oral Dryness Scoring Systems

Abstract

Dry mouth or xerostomia is the feeling that there is not sufficient saliva in the mouth. If this is present all or most of the time then it can be uncomfortable. It can also sometimes indicate health problems and as a result should be brought to the attention of a health care professional. Xerostomia does not always equate to hyposalivation. There are ways to assess degrees of oral dryness, namely-CODS (clinical oral dryness scoring) which helps to give a numerical value to the oral signs.