Overview
Symptoms
Symptoms, in addition to a dry mouth, can include:
- Saliva that seems thick and stringy
- Difficulty chewing, speaking and swallowing
- Bad breath
- Dry or sore throat and hoarseness
- A change of sense of taste
Causes
Dry mouth is caused when the salivary glands in the mouth don’t make enough saliva to keep your mouth wet. This can occur as a result of:
- Some medications
- Being elderly
- Chemotherapy and radiation therapy
- Snoring and breathing with your mouth open
- Diabetes, stroke, oral thrush, Alzheimer’s or autoimmune diseases
- Drinking alcohol and smoking or chewing tobacco
- Methamphetamine and Marijuana use
Treatment
Treatment will depend on the cause and can include:
- Changing the medication that is causing dry mouth.
- Use of products such as mouth washes (Biotene), sprays (Oralieve) and gels (BioXtra dry mouth gel) that can be bought in a pharmacy.