[Sialorrhea: hypersalivation and drooling. An underestimated problem in medical practice]

On the contrary to hyposalivation/xerostomia there is a little attention paid in the literature for discussing the problem of the patient having too much saliva. In most of cases, pathogenesis of sialorrhea is not known. Due to the small number of patients involved in the studies it is difficult to get exact data. In addition to that, there is no consensus either on the terminology of sialorrhea or a preferable method which should be used to achieve the best diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Sialorrhea may occur in all age groups of population either as a consequence of increased salivary gland secretion or oral incontinence and impaired swallowing. Based on a recently published paper hypersalivation should be considered as the primary form of sialorrhea, and drooling corresponds to its secondary form. Each condition may seriously affect the physical activity, the functioning of different organs, communication, the psychosocial status of the patients. Based on a wide horizon of published data this review is focused on the terminology, methods of assessment, etiology, frequency, symptoms, and therapy of sialorrhea with special emphasis on its dental aspects.