Kata Kunci

Abstrak

In the Covid-19 pandemic era, wearing face masks has become a necessity, not only in hospitals but also in society. Although wearing a face mask can reduce the risk of transmitting SARS-CoV-2 infection, it has certain detrimental effects. One of the side effects to pay attention to is the wearer's oral health, namely mask mouth or xerostomia, or what is commonly referred to as dry mouth syndrome. This study aimed to determine the effect of wearing face masks on the occurrence of dry mouth. This cross-sectional study was conducted in February 2021. The sample consisted of 82 people aged 18-45 years in Kemuning Subdistrict, Sekip Jaya, Palembang, South Sumatera, who were selected by simple random sampling. Data was obtained from filling out online questionnaires and analyzed using the Chi-square test with a significance interval of 95%. Respondents who wore cloth masks, medical masks, and N95 masks and experienced dry mouth were 95.4%, 80%, and 80%, respectively. Dry mouth occurred in 50% of respondents who wore a face mask for less than 1 hour, 100% of respondents who wore a face mask for 1-2 hours and 2-4 hours, 55.6% of respondents who wore a face mask for 5-6 hours, and 83.9% of respondents who wore a face mask for more than 6 hours. There was no significant association between the type of face mask and the occurrence of dry mouth (p > 0.05). However, there was a significant association between the duration of wearing a face mask and the occurrence of dry mouth (p < 0.05). It can be concluded that wearing a face mask can promote dry mouth.