Management of Xerostomia in Covid-19 patints: A review article

Xerostomia, is a chronic and common symptom of dry mouth that many patients report when they meet their doctor or dentist or oral hygienist. As far as Corona virus spreading widely, it is khown as one of the latest etiology for this complication. Salivary reduction causes serious damages to the oral and pharyngeal mucosa due to dryness, Same as oral and pharyngeal mucosa discontinuity. The aim of this study was to evaluate dry mouth and its necessary treatment considerations in related articles in  patients with Covid19, as important and know complicate.

by searching the keywords, COVID-19; Therapeutics; Xerostomia; Salivary glands in data bases such as pubmed; Google scholar; scopus; SID; net,  40 articles that published between the years 2016-2020, which are conformed with our inclusive and exclusive factors ,were selected.

Secondary to taste dysfunction (59.5%), Xerostomia (45.9%) is the most prevalent condition related to corona infection. 74.5% of corona infected who experience Xerostomia, announced that they have had the signs of Xerostomia before covid-19 diagnosis. Some medications used in the treatment of Covid-19, such as antiviral drugs (Remdesivir and Ritonavir) and antimuscarinic drugs, also causes dry mouth. There is a wide range and different efficiencies of dry mouth treatments. The new emerged therapies have also been effective in treating dry mouth and have shown promising results.

The corona virus can affected salivary glands function, directly and indirectly. It cause changes in amount and quality of saliva, the important and significant result of which is dry mouth. It could be secondary to the destructive activity of the virus, or secondary to the use of therapeutic drugs. Due to the widespread effects of dry mouth on patientschr('39') quality of life, It is important to consider concomitant treatment of dry mouth in patients who affected by covid-19 currently or in past.