Efficacy of Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation on Parotid Saliva Flow Rate in Relation to Age and Gender

Statement of the problem: treatment with salivary substitutes and stimulation of salivary flow by either mechanical or pharmacologic methods has side effects and only provides symptomatic relief but no long-lasting results. purpose: to assess the effectiveness of extraoral transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (tens) as a mean of stimulating salivary function in healthy adult subjects; as well as to determine the gender and age-dependent changes in salivary flow rates of unstimulated and stimulated parotid saliva. materials and method: hundred patients were divided into two groups; group i aged 20-40 and group ii aged ≥ 60 years. the tens electrode pads were externally placed on the skin overlying the parotid glands. unstimulated and stimulated parotid saliva was collected for 5 minutes each by using standardized collection techniques. results: eighty seven of 100 subjects demonstrated increased salivary flow when stimulated via the tens unit. ten experienced no increase and 3 experienced a decrease. the mean unstimulated salivary flow rate was 0.01872 ml/min in group i and 0.0088 ml/min in group ii. the mean stimulated salivary flow rate was 0.03084 ml/min (sd= 0.01248) in group i, and 0.01556 ml/min (sd 0.0101) in group ii. after stimulation, the amount of salivary flow increased significantly in both groups (p< 0.001). statistical comparison of the two groups revealed them to be significantly different (p< 0.001), with group i producing more saliva. genderwise, no statistically significant difference was seen among the subjects in group i (p = 0.148), and those in group ii (p= 0.448). out of 12 subjects with 0 baseline flows, 7 continued to have no flow. five subjects observed side effects, although minimal and transient. conclusion: the tens unit was effective in increasing parotid gland salivary flow in healthy subjects. there was age-related but no gender-related variability in parotid salivary flow rate.