Effectiveness of wearing a mask in elderly care receivers with dry mouth

Our long term goal is to develop a mask to treat dry mouth in elderly care receivers. Reportedly, dry mouth is a condition that mostly afflicts elderly persons worldwide. Some elderly individuals cannot communicate their somatic complaints and mental distress. The symptoms of dry mouth are obscure, varying, and include decay, tongue coating, mouth odour, gum disease, swallowing disturbance, dysarthria, glossodynia, etc. The causes have been identified as medication side effects, mental stress, lifestyle, adult disease, diabetes, kidney disease, and advanced age. These causative factors are difficult to eliminate. In such patients, regardless of the symptoms and cause, the oral cavity must be kept moist. One physical treatment for dry mouth is to wear a mask. This treatment is convenient and fuss free, and independent of the drug currently being taken. However, the efficiency of this treatment method has not been adequately assessed. Thus, we studied the effectiveness of wearing a mask by measuring saliva levels, degree of wet state in the oral cavity, and relative humidity in the portion covered by the mask.