Have you noticed your mouth is more dry? Are you having trouble speaking or eating because you don’t have enough saliva? Tune in to today’s Tuesday Tooth Talk as Dr. Kuiper explains what dry mouth is, what problems it can cause, and how to help manage it!

Dry mouth, or xerostomia, can occur for a wide variety of reasons. However, the most common cause is medication usage. If you have ever looked at the side effects of most medications, a large percentage have dry mouth listed as one of the top side effects. Those medications cause your salivary glands and ducts to generate less saliva in your mouth, causing your mouth to feel more “cottony”. Besides the uncomfortable feeling of dry mouth, a lack of saliva can lead to several significant oral problems, such as more cavities, periodontal disease, and oral yeast infections. This is due to the food or beverages you consume not being washed away by the saliva and getting “stuck” to your teeth and gum tissues, which is a free meal for bacteria and yeast living in your mouth. 

The simplest “fix” for dry mouth is to drink more sugar-free liquids (especially water). Another simple way to help boost your saliva flow is to add citrus lozenges, but it is important to look for ones that are sugar free (or you will just make the situation worse instead of better). Also, if you remember our Tooth Talk on the subject, Xylitol is a sugar found in gum and mints that stimulates your mouth to make extra saliva. Dry mouth products like Biotene can help as well, but they only work temporarily to alleviate the symptoms of dry mouth. 

At the end of the day, we would love to work with you to find a routine that helps eliminate your dry mouth issues, so please let us know about any questions or concerns you might have.

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