Your mouth produces saliva throughout the day to enhance its overall function and aid in services such as cavity prevention. Saliva also helps facilitate clear speech and remove food particles from your mouth after a meal. You produce more saliva when you chew to lubricate your mouth before swallowing food.
If a chronic lack of saliva constantly makes your mouth feel dry, you may have a condition of dry mouth, which can be impacted by several factors. Dry mouth is a common side effect of the prescription medications that impeded saliva flow. While you will need to take the prescribed dosage to manage your health, you can find other methods of producing adequate moisture in your mouth, such as chewing sugarless gum to boost saliva, increasing your water intake during the day and reviewing the use of a saliva substitute with your primary physician.
If you struggle with chronic dehydration, dry mouth is a natural result, as are additional oral health problems like tooth decay. The frequent use of tobacco and alcohol products can dehydrate you since these substances prevent the saliva glands from producing saliva properly. Similarly, some medical conditions cause dry mouth, especially kidney, liver and blood health issues and pharyngeal and oral cancer.
We invite you to call Family & Implant Dentistry at 785-539-5949 today to discuss treatment for dry mouth.