Laser Therapy to Treat the Dry Mouth of Sjogren's Syndrome

Low Level Laser Therapy For The Treatment Of Xerostomia In Primary Sjogren's Syndrome

This study was designed to test the efficacy and safety of low laser therapy to treat the xerostomia of patients with primary Sjogren's Syndrome.

The Sjogren's Syndrome is a disease that affects around 0,5% of the population and is mainly characterized for inflammatory involvement of salivary and lacrimal glands.

The xerostomia leads to low quality of life caused by dry sensations that can disturb the taste, the speaking, the swallow and chewing functions in the affected patients. The absent saliva can cause increase of dental caries and decays.

Until now, there is no effective treatment that increases the amount of saliva and the patients have low improvements with cholinergic drugs such as pilocarpine and cevimeline. These drugs can cause unpleasant collateral effects.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients with primary Sjogren Syndrome according criteria american european 2002.
• Salivary flux non stimulated < 0,1 ml/min.

Exclusion Criteria:

• hepatitis B and/or C
• radiotherapy in the glandular area (previous)
• other connective diseases
• thyroidopathy non compensated
• GVHD graft-versus-host disease
• HIV
• Sarcoidosis