Effectiveness of thyme honey in the management of xerostomia in geriatric patients with end-stage renal disease: a randomized controlled clinical trial with a biochemical assessment

Suzan S Ibrahim; Asmaa Abou-Bakr; Dalia M Ghalwash; Radwa R Hussein

doi:10.1186/s40001-023-01351-9

Effectiveness of thyme honey in the management of xerostomia in geriatric patients with end-stage renal disease: a randomized controlled clinical trial with a biochemical assessment

Eur J Med Res. 2023 Oct 7;28(1):406. doi: 10.1186/s40001-023-01351-9.

Authors

Suzan S Ibrahim^{1

2}, Asmaa Abou-Bakr^{3

4}, Dalia M Ghalwash⁵, Radwa R Hussein¹

Affiliations

¹ Oral Medicine and Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
² Faculty of Oral and Dental Medicine, Nahda University in Beni Seuf City, Beni Seuf, Egypt.
³ Oral Medicine and Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. Asmaa.aboubakr@bue.edu.eg.
⁴ Oral Medicine and Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, The British University in Egypt, El Sherouk City, Egypt. Asmaa.aboubakr@bue.edu.eg.
⁵ Oral Medicine and Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, The British University in Egypt, El Sherouk City, Egypt.

Abstract

Background: Taking into consideration the value of the oral health condition in geriatric people with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) associated with xerostomia and believing that salivary stimulants or substitutes could potentially be used to manage this condition. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of thyme honey as oral rinse in geriatric patients with ESRD using the subjective dry mouth score as a primary objective and to assess the effect of thyme honey on the salivary nitric oxide level, salivary flow rate, and salivary ph in addition to objective dry mouth score as a secondary objective.

Methods: This was a single blinded randomized controlled trial with two equal arms, the interventional arm (thyme honey oral rinse) and the control arm (saline). Twenty-eight geriatric patients with ESRD undergoing hemodialysis complained of xerostomia were recruited from the renal dialysis center. Patients in both arms followed the same administration protocol either with thyme honey oral rinse or saline. The following clinical parameters (the subjective and objective dry mouth scores, salivary flow rate, salivary ph, and salivary nitric oxide (NO) levels) were evaluated for both groups at different intervals (baseline, 1 week, and 1 month).

Results: In the current study, it was found that both the subjective and objective dry mouth scores were significantly lower after one month of using thyme honey oral rinse (1.86 ± 0.66^B) and (2.21 ± 0.43^B) respectively, than the control group (3.07 ± 0.73^B) and (3.07 ± 0.83^B), respectively with a (p < 0.001). Also, the salivary flow rate was significantly higher after one month of using thyme honey oral rinse (1.56 ± 0.51^A), than the control group (0.78 ± 0.27^A) with a (p < 0.001). For the NO levels, there was a significant increase in measured value after 1 month in the intervention group (p < 0.001), while for the control group the change was not statistically significant (p = 0.166).

Conclusions: The results of the current study have revealed the efficacy of Thyme honey oral rinse in the management of xerostomia in geriatric patients with ESRD. Trial registration The ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier for this study is NCT05247008.

Keywords: ESRD; Geriatric; Honey; Thyme; Xerostomia.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

Aged
Honey*
Humans
Kidney Failure, Chronic* / complications
Kidney Failure, Chronic* / therapy
Nitric Oxide
Thymus Plant*
Xerostomia* / drug therapy
Xerostomia* / etiology

Substances

Nitric Oxide

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT05247008