Ex vivo approach to studying bio-adhesive and tribological properties of artificial salivas for oral dryness (xerostomia)

In this work, a method for measuring adhesion and lubrication of the salivary substitutes has been tested ex vivo on pig tongue. The results indicated that the bio-adhesive properties of the salivary substitutes were fairly close to those of human saliva, while their lubricate capacity were rather less efficient. The experimental method proposed here seems to be interesting to characterise and improve the salivary substitutes performances.