[Dry mouth; possible cause--pharmaceuticals]

Many elderly complain about oral dryness. This complaint can be the result of the use of drugs, because many drugs, such as anti-depressives, anti-psychotics and anti-hypertensives, have an anti-cholinergic or anti-adrenergic action. Knowledge of this potential side-effect of drugs as well as adjustment of schedules of drug usage may result in (partly) relief of dryness-related complaints. In this paper first of all mechanisms that underly negative regulation of salivary secretion are discussed. An overview is given of drugs with an salivary secretion inhibitory action. In addition, suggestions are presented to manage drug-induced hyposalivation.