What is dry mouth?

What is dry mouth?

What is Dry Mouth?

Dry mouth means you do not have enough saliva to keep your mouth moist. Everyone, once we have a dry mouth, especially if you're nervous, upset or under stress. However, if you have a dry mouth most of the time, it is very uncomfortable and can lead to more serious health problems or indicate the existence of other more serious medical condition. These conditions occur because the role of saliva is not just keep your mouth moist, saliva helps digest food, protects teeth from decay, prevents infection by controlling bacteria population in the mouth and chewing allows and swallowing.

There are several reasons that the glands that produce saliva, called salivary glands, might not be working properly. These reasons could be:

Side effects of some drugs: more than 400 medicines can cause dry mouth. These include antihistamines, decongestants, painkillers, diuretics and medications for high blood pressure and for depresión.Enfermedades: there are diseases like diabetes, Hodgkin's disease and Parkinson's disease, HIV or AIDS virus and Sjögren's syndrome affecting the salivary glands and can cause dry bucal.Terapia X-ray: during cancer treatment with X-rays can damage the salivary glands to radiation of the head and neck. The loss of saliva can be total or partial, permanent or temporalQuimioterapia: drugs used to treat cancer can make saliva thicker, causing dryness bucal.Menopausia: changes in hormone levels affect the salivary glands. Often, menopausal and post menopausal women with a persistent feeling of dry bucal.Tabaquismo: a large number of pipe smokers, cigar and cigarette smokers experience dry mouth.

How do I know if I have dry mouth?

Everyone's mouth feels dry from time to time. If that feeling persists over time is indicative of problems in the production of saliva. The symptoms of dry mouth include:

Feeling dry mouth and burning deglutirSensación pastosaDificultades for the lenguaSensación of dry partidosReducción gargantaLabios the ability to taste or a metallic taste in the breath bocaLlagasMal frecuenteDificultad to chew and speak

How is Dry Mouth?

The only way to cure dry mouth is to treat its cause. If dry mouth is medication, your doctor might change your prescription or your dosage. If your salivary glands are not functioning properly but still produce some saliva, your doctor will prescribe a medicine that helps the glands work better.

If the cause of dryness can not be removed, the moisture of the mouth can be retrieved in different ways. Your dentist may recommend mouth moisturizers, such as a saliva substitute. Mouthwashes specially formulated to provide relief from dry mouth. Also, consider these suggestions:

Sip water or drinks azúcarEvite beverages such as coffee, tea or soda, which can cause sequedadMastique sugarless gum or sugarless hard candy to stimulate saliva flow (if there is some salivary gland function) Do not smoke or drink alcohol and bucalSepa that dry food that spicy or salty can cause mouth pain secaPor night, use humidifiers