THE IMPROVEMENT OF SALIVA FLOW RATE BY GARGLING GREEN TEA STEPPING IN MENOPAUSE WOMEN WITH XEROSTOMIA

Endocrine and biological changes occur in postmenopausal women, the production of steroid sex hormones that affect the health of the oral cavity, with the reduction of all or part of estrogen resulting in xerostomia (dry mouth). The treatment of Xerostomia was carried out using local, mechanical and chemical stimulation. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of gargling of green tea steeping on salivary flow rates in postmenopausal women with xerostomia at Darussalam Public Health Center in Medan.This is an experimental study using the design of control group, pretest-posttest and the non-probability of purposive sampling. Fourty menopausal women with xerostomia were used as sample. The treatment group gargled with green tea steeping while the control group gargled with distilled water. Saliva was collected into the pots for three minutes before and after treatment by spitting method. The analytical test used was the paired T-test and the unpaired.The results showed that there was an increase in salivary flow rate with green tea brushing rinse by 0.281750 ml/min and with aquades rinsing by 0.03335 ml/min. Furthermore, there was an effect of gargling with green tea steeping, namely an increase in the flow rate of saliva and this research can be an alternative treatment to relieve xerostomia in menopausal women.The green tea gargling was better in stimulating salivary flow rate.