About Dry Mouth

What is dry mouth?
If you have a permanently dry mouth, you are not alone. As many as one in every ten people may suffer from a dry mouth, a medically recognised condition also known as xerostomia. As well as being uncomfortable at rest, it can also affect a person's ability to eat and communicate, and can seriously impair a person's quality of life.

Saliva is the natural defender of the mouth and the teeth and so people with a reduced ability to product saliva may be at risk from accelerated tooth decay or more infections in the mouth. It is therefore very important to speak to your doctor or dentist about your dry mouth.

What causes dry mouth?
A reduction in saliva production has a number of causes. One of the most common causes is as a side effect of other medications, including those taken for depression and other central nervous system conditions, high blood pressure, allergy, cancer or overactive bladder. Symptoms may be particularly bad if you are taking a combination of drugs, or 'polypharmacy'.

Dry mouth is sometimes a symptom of a specific illness or disease. It is associated with conditions such as Sjögren's syndrome, other rheumatic diseases, cancer and diabetes.

There are also other ways in which the salivary glands may be damaged. People who have had radiotherapy to the head or neck may have difficulty producing saliva, and also patients who have had surgery to the area.

If you have a dry mouth, you may wish to sip water or chew sugar-free gum to help relieve the symptoms. However there are also a range of saliva stimulants or saliva substitutes that are available that may benefit you.