Saliva and Dry Mouth

Saliva is great for chewing your food, is vital for digestion but some people don't produce enough saliva, and this causes dry mouth. But there are substitutes and different types of ways you can fix this, and here, we’ll discuss the  potential benefits of these, and how they impact oral health.

How Dry Mouth can Affect You 

Dry mouth is otherwise known as xerostomia, which is something that can happen from medications, autoimmune conditions, chemotherapy, and even radiation, and so much more. Some of the signs include: 

• A sticky, dry feeling within the mouth and tongue 

• Trouble with chewing, tasting, swallowing and speaking 

• Lips that are cracked 

• Burning sensations within the mouth 

• Lips that are cracked 

• Mouth sores 

• A dry tongue that’s rough.

• Mouth infection 

Dry mouth also has impacts on dental health, leading to inflammation, infections, and even tooth decay.

That’s due to the fact that saliva works within the oral cavity to improve the mouth pH, and also prevents demineralization within the teeth.

Artificial Saliva 

This is something that is great for managing and treating the dry mouth symptoms that are there.

You’ve got three main actions that happen. You can manage these conditions through medications, preventing the decay of teeth, and boosting saliva production. 

When you’re increasing this, you can get artificial saliva rinses or sprays, which you’re able to purchase. There are also drugs that boost saliva production naturally. Artificial saliva is great for helping this, but keep in mind they don’t have the enzymes used for digestion, and it doesn’t have the same minerals that the regular saliva that your body makes.

It’s important that, if you do use artificial saliva, you don’t just rely on this, but also rely on other types of ways to relieve this.

These include: 

• Having water, or sugarless drinks that don’t contain caffeine 

• Using humidifiers 

• Chewing gum that’s sugar-free, or having candy that’s sugar-free to suck on

• Avoiding foods that are dry, hard for you to chew, along with spicy and salty items 

• Using a lip lubricant 

• Avoiding sugary or sticky foods 

• Avoiding tobacco and alcohol, even mouth rinses that have alcohol within them 

You’ll want to try different kinds of treatments that do work best and using this is based on the direction of the doctor, however, when you consume these, do not drink or eat for up to 15 minutes after you’ve used this. 

Substitutes Vs. Stimulants 

There are also saliva stimulants, but they’re a bit different. Saliva substitutes do cause you to have a more moist mouth, and they usually are devices.  They won’t stimulate your salivary glands, but they can help with moistening the mouth.

But a saliva stimulant is basically a way to boost the production of this in there.  The best way to boost this is through chewing, causing the muscles to start to compress, release the saliva, and boost the production. Chewing gum for instance might be a great simulant, especially if you don’t want to use a substitute. 

If you are going to stimulate the salivary glands, you should use sugarless gum in order to make this work. 

Overall, it’s important that you get the help that you need with your dry mouth. Discuss this with a healthcare provider, to figure out the best treatment plan. You don’t need to live with this daily annoyance, but there are different treatments that you can get, helping you boost your oral health, and bringing your oral health back to the state that it was in before.