Current Status of Salivary Gland Diseases: Sjögren's Syndrome and Dry Mouth

As societies age, the number of people complaining of dry mouth is increasing; an estimated 30,000,000 people suffer from dry mouth in Japan. The mouth fulfills many basic human appetites, such as eating, drinking, tasting, and talking, and a core component of these functions is saliva. In this paper we will; (1) Explain what dry mouth is; (2) Introduce Niigata University Medical and Dental Hospital's dry mouth outpatient clinic; (3) Describe a new diagnostic method using ultrasonic waves; and (4) Describe salivary protein analysis in patients suffering from Sjögren's syndrome (SS).