What is dry mouth and how do you get it? How do you treat it? Xerostomia is the medical term for it.
Dry mouth can be caused by many things. Anyone who suffers from it can tell you that nervousness and stress are some of the most basic of the causes. However other people only ever find out about dry mouth form medications that they take or they have had to have cancer treatments. Some auto immune disease and some infections can cause it too.
Some of the symptoms of dry mouth are:
- Bad breath
- Saliva that is thick and stringy
- Mouth ulcers
- A higher rate of tooth decay or increase plaque
- problems with eating dry foods
What happens is the body doesn’t produce enough saliva from one of the many salivary glads within the mouth. All of these glads produce saliva that helps us swallow and chewing or just keeping the mouth moist.
There is many ways to increase saliva production some of the ways are:
- Chewing food thoroughly
- Drink plenty of water in between meals
- Avoid highly acidic foods (if you can’t rinse mouth with water after eating)
- Chewing sugar free gum
- Rinsing mouth with mouth wash that is designed to help produce saliva.
Some other natural ideas are slippery elm or ginger teas, even fennel seeds can help.
But before trying any thing and if you think you have dry mouth come in and have a exam and clean with one of the friendly dentist. This way you will get the best and correct advice on how to treat dry mouth.
You can call Ph: 07 3284 4281 or book online.
