Oral conditions in patients with Sjögren’s Syndrome: a Systematic Review

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate through a systematic review, the oral manifestations of Sjögren’s syndrome. It had as research sources: manual searches in publications, sites and electronic data bases such as MEDLINE, LILACS and BBO. As its inclusion criteria: cross-sectional, case-control and cohort studies which data collection was done by means of clinical indexes for dental caries, periodontal disease and oral mucosa. The selected idioms were: Portuguese, English and Spanish; in the period of 1990 to 2003. Searching strategies used included the following words: Sjögren, dmf, caries, decay, periodontal, plaque and gingivitis. Thirteen studies were selected, one of these in Spanish and the others in English. All delineations were case-control, 54% of these aimed at evaluating the relationship between patients with the syndrome and caries presence, 85% with periodontal disease and 32% relating to the alterations of oral mucosa. The analyzed studies showed that the main symptom of Sjögren’s syndrome is xerostomy and that exist a slight association between syndromic patients and dental caries index and some alterations of oral mucosa and a weak association with periodontal diseases.