Everything To Know About How To Treat Dry Mouth

Dry mouth can be a result of various types of disease conditions affecting an individual’s health. It is commonly experienced by patients suffering from dehydration. It is often a benign condition. Treatment of dry mouth depends on medical condition causing it.

If dry mouth is a side effect of medication, discontinuing or changing medication can treat it. Drinking plenty of fluids helps in treating dry mouth caused by dehydration. Treating your dental diseases also helps in abating dry mouth. Let us try to understand more about how to treat dry mouth.

Various Ways To Treat Dry Mouth

Water

This is the primary treatment option and is commonly recommended by doctors. It is very common to experience dry mouth during summertime. Drink plenty of fluids. Fluids help in restoring body’s imbalance caused by dehydration. They also help with saliva production, which keeps your mouth wet. Dehydration sucks up water content from mucosal lining in the mouth.

Drinking juices and coconut water during summertime will help in treating dry mouth effectively. You can also add electrolytes to the water. This helps in retaining water in the body.

Protein Supplement

Protein plays a critical role in regulating water in body and maintaining optimum water level. Our body needs nearly 8 to 10 g of protein every day. This depends on your body weight and metabolism. If you are not getting enough protein from your diet, you may lose water due to evaporation faster than a healthy individual.

This can lead to dry mouth as well. Protein is great for old aged individuals whose body does not absorb nutrients from foods effectively. A scoop of protein powder with milk helps in treating dry mouth.

Treating Underlying Disease

Certain types of disease conditions can cause dry mouth. Gum disease and other types of dental issues can lead to low saliva production. Treating these diseases often resolve dry mouth completely. Benign tumors of salivary glands can damage saliva production. Surgical excision of this growth treats dry mouth.

Dry mouth associated with fever, diarrhea, and vomiting often resolves completely with treatment of these disease conditions. Avoid breathing from mouth when you have dry mouth. Breathe from your nose. This helps in slowing down dry mouth.

Chewing Gum

Dry mouth is a consequence of less saliva production. Chewing a “chewing gum” helps in producing saliva. Our body’s natural mechanism produces saliva whenever we chew or eat something. Chewing gum is, however, a temporary treatment for dry mouth.

If you do not like chewing gum, you can try sucking a candy. It is wise to make sure the candy or chewing gum you use is sugar-free. Sugar-containing food items can cause increased bacterial activity in mouth, which can worsen dry mouth.

Quitting Bad Habits

It is a widely known fact that excessive alcohol can lead to dehydration. This can result in dry mouth. If you drink alcohol, keep it to minimum levels. However, it is good to consider quitting alcohol. Smoking is also associated with dry mouth. Smoking cigarette degrades oral environment.

Free radicals and carcinogens play an important role in causing dry mouth. Therefore, quitting cigarette helps in treating dry mouth in the long run. Chewing tobacco worsen dry mouth as well. Changing these habits will surely help in enhancing saliva production and keeping mouth wet.

Conclusion

Dry mouth is a result of different types of underlying health conditions affecting saliva production. It is treatable and often abates with treatment of underlying causes. Drinking plenty of fluids helps in treating it successfully.