Comparative Study on the Effectiveness of Pilocarpine in Xerostomia according to the Method of Administration

필로카핀 투여 방법에 따른 구강 건조증 환자의 치료 효과에 관한 연구

The purposes of this study were to investigate the effect of pilocarpine-containing chewing gum for the treatment of xerostomia and to compare the effect of pilocarpine-containing chewing gum with that of pilocarpine oral administration. The 20 subjective and objective xerostomic patients were included in this study and divided into 3 groups. Five subjects were included in gum base chewing group, 10 in pilocarpine-containing gum chewing, and 5 in pilocarpine oral administration. The author measured unstimulated whole salivary flow rate, stimulated parotid salivary flow rate, pH of resting whole saliva, viscosity of stimulated whole saliva, and subjective symptoms and discomforts using VAS(visual analogue scale) at the beginning of the experiment. And the author investigated the changes of these factors at 1, 2, 3, and 4 week after. The obtained results were as follows : 1. There were significant increases in the unstimulated whole salivary flow rate in pilocarpine-containing gum chewing and pilocarpine oral administration groups. But there was no significant difference between pilocarpine-containing gum chewing and pilocarpine oral administration groups. 2. There was a significant increase in the stimulated parotid salivary flow rate in pilocarpine- containing gum chewing group. But there was no significant difference between pilocarpine- containing gum chewing and pilocarpine oral administration groups. 3. The change of salivary pH showed the increasing pattern in all groups. But there was no significant difference among groups. 4. There were no significant changes in the values of salivary viscosity in all groups through the experimental period. 5. There were significant decreases of VAS(visual analogue scale) in the degree of subjective symptoms and discomforts in pilocarpine-containing gum chewing and pilocarpine oral administration groups. But there was no significant difference between pilocarpine- containing gum chewing and pilocarpine oral administration groups.