Stress is a psychological reaction to stimuli such as anxiety or threat felt by a person either physically or mentally when placed in a difficult situation. Although a relationship between stress and dry mouth has been reported, it remains understudied. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between stress and subjective dry mouth among the elderly living in a rural region.
Elderly people who were stressed had an approximately 2-fold increase in experiencing subjective dry mouth when compared to their stress-free counterparts.