The menopause and oral health.

OBJECTIVES: To review the literature about oral symptoms and signs at the menopause with an emphasis on hormone replacement therapy (HRT). To give practical guidelines for women and their physicians in menopause-related oral health problems.

METHODS: The PubMed and Cochrane databases was searched until mid January 2009 with key words such as "menopause", "menopausal complaints", "postmenopausal complaints" and "oral diseases", "oral discomfort", "dental health", "dental diseases", "saliva", "burning mouth syndrome", "dry mouth", "xerostomia". Because of a scarcity of controlled studies no systematic review could be conducted.

RESULTS: Oral discomfort is found in many menopausal women in addition to more general climacteric complaints. The principal peri- and postmenopausal symptoms are dry mouth and burning mouth (glossodynia) which, in turn, may increase the occurrence of oral mucosal and dental diseases, such as candidiasis. The mechanisms of hormone-related oral symptoms and signs are not known although oestrogen receptors, for example, have been detected in the oral mucosa and salivary glands. In principle, the histology of oral and vaginal mucosa is very similar and thus their symptoms might share a common cause. Yet, hormone replacement therapy use does not necessarily prevent or help women with oral symptoms.

CONCLUSION: Properly controlled long-term randomized studies are needed to assess the effect of HRT on oral discomfort. Future gene profiling could identify women who may or may not benefit from HRT with regard to oral symptoms.