[Changes in secretion and composition of saliva with aging].

About 30% of the elderly suffer from oral dryness and related complaints. Therefore, it is often assumed that salivary secretion reduces with age. Nevertheless, salivary flow rate data in healthy elderly--that are persons without any medication and not suffering from any (treatment related) salivary gland disorder--revealed no significant age-related decrease other than a slight decrease of the secretion from the (sero)mucous glands under conditions of minimal or extended stimulation. No age-related changes were observed in the secretion of parotis saliva. In contrast, some age-related changes occur in the organic composition of saliva. The reported decrease in the concentrations of kallikrein, sIgA, low-molecular mucin and high-molecular mucin might be related to a somewhat decreased immunologic and non-immunologic defense of the oral cavity in the elderly.