Early dental loss in Sjögren's syndrome: Histologic correlates

Early dental loss is a well-known complication of Sjögren's syndrome. Forty percent ( n = 16) of 39 consecutive patients with the syndrome had early dental loss. Dental loss correlated positively with histologic grading at lip biopsy. There was no significant correlation with any other feature of Sjögren's syndrome, including saliva flow. In 11 partially edentulous or completely edentulous patients, dental loss occurred 9 years on average before the first symptom of xerostomia. Early dental loss may reflect a silent involvement of the salivary glands and suggests that changes in saliva biochemistry occur long before xerostomia.