Effectiveness of Vegetable Oil Mouth rinsing in reduction of radiation induced Xerostomia among patients receiving Radiation Therapy

Title of the study was to determine the effectiveness of vegetable oil mouth rinsing in reducing radiation induced xerostomia among patients receiving radiation therapy. Quasi experimental pre-test post test control group design was used. Samples were selected using simple random sampling technique. Eligibility criteria were the samples who have been completed seven sittings of radiation therapy for head and neck cancer in Devaki Cancer Institute Madurai. Groningen Radiation Induced Xerostomia Questionnaire was used for assessing xerostomia level. Sixty participants completed pre test post test (on 5th day and 10th day) questionnaires. Experimental group received vegetable oil (10 ml sesame oil) mouth rinsing three times a day before taking meals for continuous 10 days. Mean post test xerostomia level of experimental group (14.2) who had vegetable oil mouth rinsing was lower than the mean post test xerostomia level of control group(43.76). It was found that there was a significant association between the post test level of xerostomia in experimental group and selected variables such as tumor site χ² value 4.344 at 1 df(3.84)p (>0.05), previous history of tobacco use and betel nut chewing χ² value 8.863 at 3 df (7.82) p (>0.05). These findings suggest that vegetable oil mouth rinsing is effective in reducing radiation induced xerostomia among patients receiving radiation therapy over head and neck cancer