Xerostomia and salivary levels of glucose and urea in patients with diabetes.

Examination of the composition of saliva in patients with diabetes may be useful for understanding why oral manifestations occur and how they should be treated. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of severity of xerostomia, salivary concentrations of glucose and urea in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes, and to determine the correlation between xerostomia and salivary glucose levels. For the realization of this goal, the study included 60 patients of both sexes aged 30-70 years. The sample was divided into two groups. The first, experimental, group consisted of 30 patients who had insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The control group consisted of 30 subjects who were not suffering from diabetes. To determine the degree of severity of xerostomia among all respondents a questionnaire recommended by Carda was used. From all patients in both the control and experimental group, total saliva was collected for 10 minutes for biochemical analysis in accordance with the recommendations of Navazesh. Salivary glucose was determined by using the enzymatic method with a hexokinase (mmol/l), and salivary urea by using the kinetic method with urease and glutamate dehydrogenase (mmol/l). Varying degrees of xerostomia were noticed in 80% of the experimental group and only 10% of the control group. In diabetics, we found significantly higher levels of urea (2.36 mmol/l) and glucose (0.022 mmol/l) in the saliva compared with the values of these parameters (1.48 mmol/l, 0017 mmol/l) in the control group. Based on these results, we concluded that diabetes is a disease that causes xerostomia and there is a significant correlation between the degree of xerostomia and the salivary level of glucose.