Dry Mouth Advice

DRY MOUTH By Gabe Mirkin, M.D.
"Dry mouth can be caused by infections, nerve damage and drugs such as blood pressure medication like clonidine, Prilosec and other ulcer medications, antihistamines, stimulants such as amphetamines and intestinal medication called atropine. It can be associated with a type of arthritis.

Lack of saliva causes mouth and neck pain, infections, difficulty talking and sleeping, dental cavities, and difficulty swallowing because saliva lubricates the food and allows it to pass down your throat. Since the mouth is normally full of germs that belong there, it is very difficult to culture a bacteria that causes dry mouth, but some people are cured by taking the antibiotics metronidazole and clarithromycin for a couple of weeks. If that doesn't cure you, you may have to take a 5mg pilocarpine pill four times a day, but they can cause sweating, nausea, running nose, chills, dizziness and frequent urination.

You can also try a machine called Salitron made by Biosonics in Pennsylvania. It uses an electrical probe in your mouth to stimulate the salivary glands to produce saliva. "
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Gary Moller comments:
I thought you might be interested in this article by Dr Mirkin. While the advice might be spot on for treating medical conditioins like Sjogren's, it is not suitable for the majority of people with this problem. Adding more medicine to the pile pills is potentially dangerous and few people can afford extortionately over-priced medical machines. Dry mouth is a potentially serious conditioin that can lead to:

• Severe tooth decay, bad breath and gum disease
• These infections are assoiated with cardiovascular disease
• Diseases of the digestive tract
• Malnutrition

Here is my advice:

• If you are on medication that might be causing dry mouth, talk to your Dr and ask if it is absolutely necessary and ask about alternatives.
• If you have digestive problems, high blood pressure or feeling depressed, for example, and you are taking medication there are usually very good lifestyle and nutrition alternatives to medication that has side effects like dry mouth.
• If you are a mouth breather, then you need to get to the root cause of this which may be anything from a nasal obstruction, allergy or being over-weight
• Cut out stimulants, including tea, coffee and chocolate
• Drink plenty of fresh water so that urination is regular, like every couple of waking hours
• Get on a nutrient rich wholefoods diet and cut out sugars and refined flours, artificail sweeteners, colourings and flavourings
• Take a multi mineral with magnesium, like Calcium Complete, a selection of omega oils and a natural B Complex that support proper functioning of the nervous system
• Go to sleep and awake the same time every day
• Exercise outdoors daily to stimulate mind and body
• Sip fresh fresh cool water frequently and swill and gargle it about the mouth
• Brush and floss morning and evening and see a good dentist regularly
• Chew gum, eat apples and other fruit to stimulate the production of saliva and massage the gums