Efficacy of Manuka Honey Oral Rinse in Treatment of Xerostomia

Xerostomia has a variety of possible etiological factors; it is generally classified as having primary and secondary causes. Primary causes comprise conditions that directly affect the salivary glands and induce xerostomia like, Sjogren's syndrome, diabetes mellitus type 1 and 2, thyroid disease, adrenal pathology, renal or hepatic diseases, hepatitis C virus infection, and HIV disease. Secondary causes of xerostomia include the side-effects of radiation therapy or chemotherapy, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, mixed connective tissues diseases, systemic lupus erythematous, graft versus host disease, anorexia, alcohol and smoking and commonly prescribed drugs (\>500 medications reportedly cause dry mouth). The most common medications causing hyposalivation are those with anticholinergic activity, sympathomimetic, and benzodiazepines. The risk of xerostomia increases with the synergistic effects of xerogenic medications, multiple medications, higher doses of medication, and the duration of the medication. Honey was found to have several benefits as an alternative medicine, it has been used as a natural medicine for more than 2000 years, mainly for wound healing. Though there are many varieties of honey, only some of them e.g. Manuka honey and Malaysian Tualang honey, have been studied in detail for their medicinal properties. Manuka honey is a monofloral honey, produced from the nectar of flowers of Manuka tree. This variety is produced from the Apis mellifera honey bees, using New Zealand Manuka plants producing specific floral-variety named as Leptospermum scoparium. The composition of Manuka honey consists of carbohydrates, minerals, proteins, fatty acids, phenolic and flavonoid compounds. Although such compounds are found in other types of honey, other unique features also occur in Manuka honey, such as an unusually high level of methylglyoxal (MGO) formed from dihydroxyacetone (DHA) which correlates with antibacterial activity.Manuka honey shows antioxidant and anticancer properties, which are considered due to its constituents-phytochemicals working as active bio-compounds.