Efficacy of artificial salivary substitutes in treatment of xerostomia: A systematic review

Aim: To provide an update on artificial saliva used to maintain the health of the oral cavity of patients with severe hyposalivation. Materials and Methods: A literature search was conducted in April 2018 in three electronic databases (The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials [CENTRAL], PubMed, and Embase) by combining key words and terms related to the population and intervention of the topic. Results: The databases search resulted in 455 titles and abstracts. Of these, 21 were judged to meet inclusion criteria and full texts were read. Finally, 10 clinical trials were included for qualitative synthesis. Conclusion: Published evidence suggests that all the artificial saliva products tested in included studies reduced symptoms of xerostomia. These products should specifically be selected according to the patients' concerns and needs. However, the included studies presented a wide range of products and suffered from high risk of bias. Therefore, long-term randomized controlled trials on effects of various products are required.