Complaints & connections · borters.ch
Xerostomie
First the medication list, then drinking and mouth breathing, then blood sugar and dry eyes.
Also known as: dry mouth · little saliva · xerostomia · sticky tongue
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
Saliva is more than fluid: it rinses, buffers acid, keeps minerals on the tooth and makes speaking and swallowing easy. When it is missing you notice quickly — a burning tongue, sticky lining, poorer taste, bad breath and, over time, distinctly more decay. By far the most common reason is medication; several hundred can slow saliva, above all drugs for allergies, depression, bladder weakness, high blood pressure and fluid retention. Then come simple things: drinking too little, mouth breathing at night, snoring, smoking, a lot of alcohol or caffeine. High blood sugar produces dry mouth together with thirst and frequent urination. If the eyes are dry as well and joints ache, a condition of the salivary glands may lie behind it, and that can be worked up specifically. Radiotherapy to the head and neck also leaves dryness. And anxiety switches saliva off in the moment — anyone who has spoken in public knows this.
Spread over the day these help more than large amounts at once.
Gum or lozenges with xylitol stimulate saliva and protect the tooth.
Less saliva means more decay — closer check-ups make sense.
A clear nose and a slightly more humid bedroom often change more than any spray.
Keep sugar-free lozenges, sage sweets or a piece of ginger in the mouth, several times a day as needed.
Apply a greasy, fragrance-free balm several times a day, do not lick, and before going out in winter.
Artificial saliva and gels replace the fluid for one to two hours — they do not replace what saliva otherwise does: minerals for enamel, defence substances, digestion. So the risk of decay rises, and fluoride belongs with it. Pilocarpine stimulates the glands if tissue is left. More than four hundred medicines dry the mouth — by far the most common reason, and a look at the list often achieves more than any gel.
A healthy person makes one to one and a half litres of saliva a day, about 0.3 millilitres a minute at rest — under 0.1 counts as markedly reduced. At night production falls almost to zero anyway, hence the dry mouth in the morning. More than four hundred medicines have a drying effect, and the number of drugs taken counts for more than any single one. After radiotherapy to the head and neck, production recovers over six to twenty-four months, often not completely.
The most common reason of all — timing usually settles it.
Points to mouth breathing and snoring at night.
This combination deserves specific assessment, especially with joint complaints.
Have blood sugar checked — the combination is too typical to skip.
Checked when mouth and eyes are dry together — as a signpost, not a proof.
A non-specific but helpful companion value when inflammation is suspected.
Gums that bleed at the lightest touch are among the first signs of a lack. It is rare today but occurs with a very one-sided diet and with alcohol.
Recurring mouth ulcers, a smooth burning tongue and cracked corners of the mouth point to a lack — the mouth often shows this before the blood count does.
The jawbone that holds the teeth undergoes the same building up and breaking down as any other bone. What counts for the hip counts for it.
Saliva is the natural protection of teeth and lining. A dry mouth — from medicines, mouth breathing or drinking too little — raises caries, bad breath and fungal growth all at once.
With a dry mouth saliva is missing as protection, and the oral flora shifts. Lozenges over 4–12 weeks are studied for breath and coating; they do not act on the amount of saliva.
A deficiency dries mucous membranes and eyes — in Europe it is rare. Too much is the more common theme here: above 3000 µg a day over months it harms liver and bone, and in pregnancy the child.
Clearly worthwhile and well supported when deficient — vegan, older adults, certain drugs. No energy boost without a deficiency.
A dry mouth with constant thirst and large amounts of urine leads to this hormone — either it is missing, or the kidney does not listen to it. Rare, but it has a name and a treatment.
The more common reason for the same combination is too much sugar. A single fasting value settles which of the two directions it is.
1.5–2 litres a day in small amounts keep the lining moist. Caffeine and alcohol dry it out; over 400 medicines do too — the list is worth a look.
Sugar-free gum with xylitol, sourness and firm chewing get the flow going. With a dry mouth the risk of decay rises markedly — hence sugar-free.
Frequent small sips work better than a lot rarely; sugar-free chewing stimulates saliva.