Oral health condition of patients presenting Sjogren's Syndrome

Abstract

Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is a systemic chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by lymphocytic infiltration of the exocrine glands and oral and ocular dryness. The oral cavity is one of the affected sites by the disease, and most of the manifestations have the hypofunction of salivary glands and consequently hypo salivation as the primary cause. Besides xerostomia, SS patients may present caries, periodontal diseases and candidiasis. It The relation between oral infections and SS has been reported; however the real evidence for this relation has not been clarified. Thus, this study aimed to describe and analyses the oral health condition of patients presenting SS. Patients assisted at the Rheumathology and Ophtalmology clinic at the School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto or School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto to treat SS, during the period of August 2015 to August 2016, who fill the inclusion criteria will participate of this study. Data related to age, sex, race, clinical form, oral and ocular dryness, laboratorial test for the SS diagnosis, and drugs use will be evaluated through the medical records. Only the cases in which the SS diagnosis was based on the American-European Study Group (2002) will be included in this study. Besides these clinical data related to SS, oral clinical exam will be performed for: unstimulated whole saliva sialometry, dental biofilm index, periodontal and dental condition, candidiasis presence and oral rehabilitation status. The control group will consist of sex and aged-matched patients referred to routine dental treatment. Patients underwent to head and neck radiotherapy, with previous history of neoplasms and infections of salivary glands, HIV infection, sarcoidosis, viral hepatitis, diabetes mellitus and smokers will be excluded of this study. This study was submitted and approved by the Institutional Review Board of School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto (CAAE: 27765714.0.00005419), and all patients should provide written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The results of this study will help to recommend preventive and therapeutic interventions for this group of patients.