Dry Mouth

Dry Mouth

Call it what you will—slobber, drool, or spittle—saliva is a wondrous substance. It’s your first line of defense against predatory fungi, viruses, and bacteria that are lurking in every crevice of your jowls. It’s loaded with protective minerals like calcium that help keep your teeth strong. It helps you swallow soothing teas, colas, and wines. It allows you to savor the taste of flavorful foods. Its lubricating moisture even helps you pronounce words clearly. In short, saliva keeps your mouth a flourishing utopia.

Without enough of it, your mouth can quickly become something akin to Death Valley—a harsh, arid environment vulnerable to ravages of tooth decay and gum erosion.

“Dry mouth is very serious in terms of the health of the mouth,” says Philip C. Fox, D.D.S., clinical director of the National Institute of Dental Research in Bethesda, Maryland. “Dry mouth can play a tremendous role in the development of cavities, fungal infections, and tooth loss.”

Often, dry mouth is triggered by autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or Sjögren’s syndrome. Other chronic ailments that are common among seniors, like diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, also can dry out your mouth. In addition, anemia, anxiety, stress, and depression can slow saliva production to a trickle. More than 400 drugs, including many used to treat high blood pressure and some heart conditions also can cause your mouth to feel as arid as the Sahara. Radiation therapy and other cancer treatments can also trigger dry mouth.

“We can’t always cure dry mouth, particularly if it is caused by a disease,” says Gretchen Gibson, D.D.S., director of the geriatric dentistry program at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Dallas. “That doesn’t mean you can’t do something to relieve it.”

Try This First

Take H₂O wherever you go. Keep a water bottle handy and take frequent sips, Dr. Fox suggests. Sipping will help keep your mouth better lubricated than gulping down a glass of water all at once. Take small swigs. Ultimately, you want to be quaffing about a cup of water every hour, he suggests.

Other Wise Ways

Hold your grounds. Overindulging in caffeine will make a dry mouth worse. Limit yourself to no more than one cup of coffee or tea a day, Dr. Gibson suggests.

Skip the sodas. Dry mouth and carbonated beverages don’t mix, Dr. Ettinger says. Without sufficient saliva to break it down, the acid in sodas and other carbonated drinks will further dry out your mouth and can severely damage your teeth and gums.

Lose the brew, too. Alcohol is another favorite beverage that dries the mouth, Dr. Gibson says. So cork your alcohol consumption but also be wary of hidden alcohol in medicines and mouthwashes, which can be as high as 26 percent alcohol. As an alternative, look for alcohol-free mouth rinses.

Snuff the smokes. Reason 3,577 to quit: Tobacco smoke burns the moisture right out of your mouth, says Robert Henry, D.M.D., dentist in Lexington, Kentucky, and past president of the American Society for Geriatric Dentistry.

Moisten the air. Put a cool-air vaporizer in your bedroom. This can add much needed humidity to the air and prevent you from waking up with dry mouth, says Ronald Ettinger, D.D.Sc., director of geriatric dental programs at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry in Iowa City. You’ll find vaporizers in most pharmacies or variety stores.

Brush up on oral hygiene. If you have dry mouth, your teeth and gums are more susceptible to infection, which not only can lead to tooth loss but also can make your mouth feel even drier. So it’s particularly important to brush after every meal and floss at least once a day, Dr. Ettinger says.

Get a squirt of instant wetness. Saliva substitutes like Optimoist and moisturizing gels and toothpastes like Oralbalance and Bioténe can provide temporary relief from dry mouth, Dr. Gibson says. These over-the-counter products, which can be used as needed, help coat and protect your gums and mouth, particularly at night. They also can be used under dentures to provide moisture and reduce friction.

“The Oralbalance and Bioténe products work because they contain many of the proteins and enzymes you find in real saliva,” Dr. Gibson says. “But they’re only an interim solution because they will not make you produce more saliva.”

Gnaw on a sugarless delight. Chew on a piece of sugarless gum, or suck on a piece of sugarless hard candy for 5 to 10 minutes every two hours. This can help stimulate your salivary glands so you’ll have a more sustained flow of fluid in your mouth, Dr. Gibson says.

Blaze a homeopathic trail. If you have dry mouth accompanied by cracks in the corners of your mouth, loss of taste, and dehydration, try a 30X daily dose of Natrum muriaticum, a homeopathic remedy available at most health food stores, suggests Flora Parsa Stay, D.D.S., dentist in Oxnard, California, and author of The Complete Book of Dental Remedies. Or you can take a 6X dose of Bryonia, another homeopathic remedy, three times a day to help relieve a parched mouth.

Dissolve the tablets under your tongue. Do not eat or drink for 15 minutes before or after taking one of these remedies, Dr. Stay says. If you don’t see improvement within 10 days, try another remedy.

Homeopathic remedies are extremely dilute doses of substances that would otherwise cause the symptoms that you’re suffering. According to homeopathic practice, the correct remedy depends on your particular symptoms. The notations 30X and 6X (as well as C measurements) are standard measurements in homeopathy and refer to a remedy’s potency, which is listed on the label.