A look inside: dry mouth condition
Saliva is essential to oral health, and health in general. It helps with digesting food, with taste and with protecting your teeth from decay. You can get dry mouth occasionally, say, if you’re anxious or you’re a bit dehydrated. However, that passes. When you aren’t producing enough saliva regularly, you can experience discomfort, bad breath and serious dental decay. Let’s take a look at the condition and what you can do before it gets problematic.
What is dry mouth condition?
Dry mouth syndrome, or xerostomia to be technical, is a condition in which there is chronically decreased salivary flow, causing, you guessed it, dryness of the mouth. Basically, you aren’t producing enough saliva to keep your mouth wet. Dry mouth condition is usually a symptom; it’s not a disease in itself.
Who gets dry mouth?
Roughly 10% of the population experience dry mouth condition, but your likelihood of getting the condition increases with age. About 25% of the older population are affected by it due to reduced salivary acini and secretory reserve, and also as we age we are more likely to be on medications which can cause dry mouth.
There are more than 600 medications that can cause dry mouth, including antidepressants (amitriptyline, fluoxetine, lithium), blood pressure tablets, antihistamines, anticholinergic (Buscopan), anti-reflux meds (omeprazole), chemotherapy drugs, benzodiazepines (Valium), and opioid-based pain killers. If you are taking a new medication and are experiencing dry mouth, talk to your doctor.
Other conditions that can cause dry mouth are menopause, particularly if you are on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), diabetes mellitus and chronic renal failure which cause dehydration, and any diseases of the salivary glands (Sjögren’s syndrome, sarcoidosis, tumours).
What are the signs of dry mouth condition?
Some signs that may indicate a chronic dry mouth include: difficulty swallowing and chewing, bad breath, a bad taste in your mouth and trouble controlling dentures.
Difficulty swallowing.
An obvious sign you could have dry mouth condition is difficulty swallowing and chewing foods, particularly dry foods like crackers.
Also, sometimes when you’re talking you can find that your tongue sticks to the roof of your mouth or sticks to your cheek.
Bad breath.
Saliva cleanses the mouth, flushing away bits of food and reducing bacteria growth to support oral health. When there is insufficient production of saliva, you are more prone to developing fungal infections like oral thrush. All of these lead to halitosis, or bad breath as most people know it.
Unpleasant taste or taste loss.
Without the saliva’s flushing effect, you may experience a bad taste in your mouth caused by leftover food and extra bacteria.
Difficulty controlling dentures.
If you have dentures, especially acrylic dentures, you may find they are generally quite loose and difficult to tolerate.
What problems can arise from dry mouth?
Short term dry mouth can cause discomfort, but when identified and managed early, it’s not an issue. Chronic dry mouth condition, however, can be a big problem. The main issues are decay, gum disease, oral thrush and halitosis.
Without saliva washing out the mouth or the saliva’s calcium, phosphate and flouride re-mineralising teeth, conditions are rife for decay and gum disease. When we see tooth decay caused by sugary diets or poor oral hygiene, the decay is on the biting surfaces and in between teeth where it’s harder to keep clean. In contrast, in the case of dry mouth condition, we see decay on the smooth surfaces of the teeth which are easy to clean and also at the gum level. Greater problems can arise if the gums have receded, as the exposed dentine is weaker and more prone to decay.
Oral thrush, also known as oral candidiasis, is a fungal infection that develops in the mouth and is more commonly seen in people with dry mouth. It generally appears as thick white/cream spots on the inside of the mouth, and sometimes splits in the corners of the mouth can develop. If you experience this, see your dentist or doctor for advice.
How is dry mouth condition treated?
Identifying that you have dry mouth condition is the first step. How your dentist advises you to manage your dry mouth condition will depend on your symptoms and the severity.
Treatment options:
• Frequently sip water
• Salivary substitutes may help symptoms (Biotene Oral balance)
• Use sugar free sweets or chewing gum to stimulate saliva
• Avoid hard, crunchy, dry and spicy foods
• Eat fruit – pineapple, for example, has an enzyme that helps clean the mouth
• Avoid alcohol, caffeine and smoking which may worsen dryness
• Protect against dental decay
• Diet low in sugar and avoid sticky foods like toffee
• Good oral hygiene and fluoridated toothpaste
• Protect against thrush and bad breath
• Rinse with Chlorhexidine mouthwash twice daily
• Brush and scrape the tongue
• Keep dentures out at night and disinfect daily with denture cleansers
How can your dentist help to manage dry mouth?
At your regular check-up, your dentist may apply fluoride agents to delay decay, give you advice on diet in dealing with dry mouth, or prescribe anti-fungal treatment if you are suffering thrush. If you have fillings, X-rays may be required to identify whether there is decay underneath. Rest assured, dry mouth is manageable.
