Dry mouth, known as “cotton mouth”, is a condition where there is not enough saliva to keep the mouth moist. It can affect your nutrition and psychology and make your eating, talking or swallowing difficult. Aside from these, it can also cause bad breath, tooth decay or mouth inflammation.
Dry mouth is a common side effect associated with drug therapy or a result of treatments such as radiation therapy for cancer. It damages salivary glands or reduces the amount of saliva. Furthermore, it is also as a result of nerve damage in the neck or head. If there is an injury of the main nerves which transmits the message between the brain and the salivary glands, the brain is not able to control the saliva production. In addition, dry mouth is caused by Sjogren’s disease (a chronic disorder that affects parts of the body producing fluids), diabetes or HIV/AIDS. However, don’t worry about this problem. Let’s take a look at the following tips on how to get rid of dry mouth.
1. Increasing Fluid Intake
Salivary gland secretions decrease as a result of lack of water, so it leads to dry breath. Drinking water a lot is one of the solutions to cure it. Consume up to 2.5 liters of water per day. You can divide this amount of water to drink several times a day.
Besides, you should add one to two glasses of fresh fruit juice daily, especially fruits rich in vitamin C such as oranges, mandarins, guavas, pineapples, mangoes, carrots, etc. Note that you should drink warm water (about 30 Celsius degrees). It is important to drink two to three glasses of water before bedtime to help keep your body from dehydration at night.
2. Daily Oral Care
Dry mouth can cause tooth decay, thus the next tip on how to get rid of dry mouth is brushing your teeth with fluoride toothpaste to prevent it. Fluoride is one of the minerals that helps build stronger teeth with healthier enamel. If enamel lacks fluoride, there will be some oral problems such as tooth discolouration and vulnerable enamel to bacterial attacks which lead to tooth decay.
Moreover, do not use alcohol-based mouthwash because alcohol can dry your mouth. Instead of, use alcohol-free mouthwash or salt water mouth rinse daily to cut down inflammation and clean your mouth. Finally, clean the tongue after brushing your teeth to limit bacteria and plaque build-up on the tongue causing bad breath.
3. Healthy Diets
Caffeinated beverages like tea, coffee, soft drinks or energy drinks can bring about stained teeth and dry mouth more seriously. If they are your favorite beverages and it is difficult for you to give them up, you can use decaffeinated ones instead.
Similarly, fruits which are high in acid and sugar is harmful to teeth. High acidic fruits like oranges, lemons, mandarins, grapefruits, grapes, etc. are responsible for enamel erosion leading tooth decay. Therefore, you should drink plenty of water after eating these fruits to lessen their negative impact on your teeth. In addition, in daily meals, you should add a lot of vegetables and fresh fruits, and restrict meat, cheese or fat with a strong smell.
4. Sugar-free sucking candies or gums
Sucking candies or chewing gums increases the flow of saliva which helps neutralize plaque acids. These works strongly after eating foods, especially sweets and soft foods. Consequently, it helps balance the acid contraction in the mouth and prevent tooth decay. However, you should use sugar-free gums or candies, or else, they are normal ones and useless for your teeth.
5. Quitting smoking
Giving up smoking is how to get rid of dry mouth you should follow if you are a smoker. It is claimed that smokers are prone to dental diseases because smoking reduces blood flow to gums and make the wounds difficult to heal after tooth extraction. In addition, it also causes bad breath, yellow teeth, and reduce saliva secretion and increase the risk of oral cancer, wisdom tooth pain.
6. Using a humidifier
Using a humidifier where you spend a lot of time in is one of the tips on how to get rid of dry mouth you should follow. Breathing in the dry air not only make the dry mouth more serious but also cause other symptoms like irritation, dehydration, sore throat or bronchitis. With a humidifier, moisture is added to the rooms, which helps to ease these symptoms considerably, especially when you are sleeping.
