Dr. Dimple Bharadwaj, Smile Care, Bandra 1

Causes of Dry mouth

Iatrogenic

1. Drugs
2. Irradiation
3. Graft versus host disease

Disease

1. Dehydration
2. Psychogenic
3. Salivary gland diseases
4. Sjogrens syndrome

Points for patients : Managing dry mouth

• Drink enough water, and sip on water and other non sugary fluids throughout the day.
• Replace missing saliva with salivary substitute’s eg artificial saliva, Alcohol- free mouth rinses or moisturizing gels. Proven effective product is GC Dry Mouth Gel.
• Stimulate drugs with sugar free chewing gums or sugar free sweets.
• Always take water or non alcoholic drinks with meals and avoid dry or hard crunchy food and sticky food.
• Moisten food with gravies, sauces, yoghurt. Pineapple has an enzyme that helps clean the mouth.
• Avoid anything that may worsen dryness such as drugs, alcohol, smoking, caffeine
• Keep mouth clean using a fluoride tooth paste and by flossing
• Avoid hot dry environments- if possible consider a humidifier for the bedroom