Do you notice a dry, sticky feeling in your mouth? Dry mouth occurs when your mouth produces less saliva, creating a dry oral environment. This often happens when you become dehydrated, but a number of medications may cause dry mouth as a side effect as well. Certain medicines can impact your nervous system to reduce the flow of saliva in your mouth.
Not only will dry mouth feel uncomfortable, but a dry oral environment can also increase your risk of many oral health problems, including infections like gum disease. While you cannot always stop a medication that gives you dry mouth, you can find methods of resolving this oral symptom.
If you experience frequent dry mouth, you can ask your dentist for advice about alleviating this condition. But you can also check out these four tips that can help you treat chronic dry mouth symptoms at home.
Drink Plenty of Water
As mentioned, dehydration may lead to you to develop dry mouth. But if dry mouth conditions occur due to medication, staying hydrated can help you fight these symptoms. Drinking water can provide acute relief for dry mouth by introducing moisture to the dry oral environment.
But if you drink plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated, you make sure you can eliminate the risk factor for dry mouth so that your body retains enough water for saliva production. The average person should drink at least eight eight-ounce glasses of water each day. But some medicines might dry you out, and you will need to drink more water to counteract this effect and remain hydrated.
Avoid Dehydrating Agents
Just as you drink water to stay hydrated, you will want to avoid certain substances that encourage dehydration and therefore dry mouth. Sometimes, the dehydrating agent in question is the medicine. In this case, you should drink more water to compensate.
However, caffeine and alcohol both tend to dry out the body and can make it more likely that you will develop dry mouth. Avoid these substances when you can, especially if you already suffer from dry mouth conditions due to your medication.
Stimulate Saliva Production
If your mouth feels dry, you can stimulate the production of saliva in your mouth with the act of chewing. However, you might worry about disrupting your diet by eating when you do not feel hungry.
You can still accomplish this stimulation via chewing with gum. Then you can encourage the flow of saliva without needing to consume food outside of your usual eating regimen. Make sure you choose a sugar-free type of gum so that you can avoid hurting your teeth as you fight dry mouth.
Use a Humidifier
You can also find relief from dry mouth by using products like humidifiers. This machine will add moisture to the air of a room in your house. Dry air can make dry mouth feel worse. So breathing air with more moisture can help you alleviate dry mouth symptoms.
If these tips do not help you with chronic dry mouth, talk to your dentist. They can offer more advice related to treating dry mouth caused by medication. Give your dentist in Longview, TX a call today at 903.662.7811.