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What is dry mouth? |
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Dry mouth or xerostomia means
not only a decrease in salivary gland secretion
but also the symptom of a dry feeling in the mouth. |
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What causes dry mouth? |
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There are several reasons
for a decrease in salivary gland secretion resulting
in dry mouth. (1) side effects from medication (2) decrease
in saliva production due
to aging (3) mental stress (4) mouth breathing (5) illnesses such as diabetes,
kidney disease, liver disease, rheumatic diseases, and
autoimmune diseases such as Sjogren's syndrome (6) radiation
therapy, bone marrow transplants, etc. |
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Can the nose and mouth become
dry at the same time? |
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This occurs often as a side
effect from medication. Another reason could also be
an autoimmune disease. |
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Is it dry mouth when your
throat hurts when breathing? |
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When saliva decreases, the
throat can also become dry. It could also be from a
swollen throat or infection so a thorough examination is recommended. |
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Is bad breath caused by dry
mouth? |
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When the mouth is dry, tooth
decay occurs, bacteria increases and this can cause
bad breath. Also, gastrointestinal problems can cause bad breath. |
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How does dry mouth cause tooth
decay? |
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When saliva decreases and
the mouth becomes dry, bacteria cannot be washed
away and thus remains. Also due to the decrease in antibacterial agents which
are
contained in saliva, bacteria increases. These conditions cause an increase in
tooth decay. |
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Is a cracked tongue due to
dry mouth? |
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When the mouth becomes dry,
the tongue's mucous also dries up causing the tongue
to crack. Other possible causes are infection and swelling. |
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What happens if you drink
too much water to quench your thirst? |
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There is no real problem in
drinking a lot of water. However gastric juices become
diluted and this could cause gastrointestinal problems. Also the feeling of fullness could affect eating enough nutritional meals. Rather than drinking water, it
would be better to gargle. |
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Taking medication makes me
thirsty. Is this dry mouth? |
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If your mouth doesn't feel
dry when not on that medication then it is probably not
xerostomia (dry mouth) but a side effect from the medication which is causing
your mouth to feel dry. |
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Why is lip biopsy necessary? |
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Sjogren's syndrome is a disease
in which a person's own immune cells attack
the glands that produce tears and saliva. The best way to tell whether it is
this
disease or not is through blood tests and by taking a small amount of salivary
gland tissue to see if attacking cells are present or not. |
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