Effectiveness of Thyme Honey in Management of Xerostomia in ESRD

The oral health of older people has warranted considerable research attention in the last two to three decades. One of the most oral conditions that have been related to the elderly patients was xerostomia. An elderly population that has a high rate of comorbid disease is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Among these pathologies, End stage renal disease (ESRD) stands out as a common serious age-related disease. ESRD is a chronic irreversible renal failure. It is known also as chronic kidney disease (CKD) Stage 6 or CKD 6. Xerostomia is relatively common in patients having ESRD with prevalence ranging from 28% to 67%. Multiple pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures that have been tested in previous studies in order to improve xerostomia in patients with ESRD which were based on the stimulation of the salivary gland flow. A new alternative for the control of xerostomia is the use of thyme honey, which is a propolis gel product with strong antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal and immunomodulation effect. It is believed that the presence of honey in the oral cavity has a sialagogue effect, stimulating the salivary glands to produce more saliva, due to the high sugar concentration in honey. The purpose of the study is to determine whether the use of thyme honey as mouth rinse will help in the treatment of xerostomia in geriatric patients with end-stage renal disease (symptom management).