The Effect of a Traditional Music Program on Xerostomia and Salivary pH in Nursing Home Residents

This study was a one-group pretest-posttest design to examine the effects of salivary gland stimulation through a traditional music program on xerostomia and salivary pH in elderly residents of nursing facilities.Data were collected from July 16 to August 31, 2021, from a random sample of 38 elderly individuals aged 65 or older who resided in nursing facilities in K and I cities, Gyeonggi-do.They were willing to participate in a traditional music program.The traditional music program, which lasted approximately 40 minutes per session, involved using traditional musical instruments such as the sogo and singing traditional folk songs.It was conducted once a week for four weeks.At the end of the program, a questionnaire was used to assess the subjective degree of dry mouth and saliva pH was measured using BCP test paper.Data were analyzed using t-tests, ANOVA, and paired t-tests to determine general characteristics, means, standard deviations, and frequencies/percentages.The results showed that xerostomia was statistically significantly related to denture use (p<.018) and the number of natural teeth (p<.045).At the same time, salivary pH was statistically significantly related to the number of natural teeth (p<.002).Additionally, the degree of dry mouth decreased significantly from 39.979.14before the intervention to 26.287.79after the intervention (t=5.59,p<.001).Salivary gland stimulation through the traditional music program improved the oral function of elderly residents in nursing facilities.This program is expected to improve the quality of life-related to oral health in the physical, mental, and psychosocial domains for institutionalized elderly in the community.It is also anticipated that oral movement activities such as singing folk songs may help improve the oral function of frail elderly individuals who are vulnerable in their daily lives.