Xerostomia

General Information

Lack of saliva causes the disease Xerostomia, which is commonly known as dry mouth. In Greek, ‘Xeros’ means dry and ‘stomia’ means mouth. The saliva deficiency is a common problem of nuisance but the dry mouth caused by it is very serious in that both speech and eating which are very essential for living are affected. This disease is often the result of side effects of certain medicines like cannabis, dextromethorphan, antidepressants etc, and it can be cured by adjusting the dosage of drugs.

Sometimes the mouth becomes dry when the person becomes nervous or upset or under severe stress. That is not a concern. But if the problem persists despite the person becoming normal then it is very serious and has to be treated. We all require saliva for digestive purpose. It also moistens and cleans our mouth, but when the deficiency of it causes Xerostomia, and then it becomes very serious and needs immediate treatment.

Fortunately, people affected by this disease can be treated and cured thanks to the improvements made in the medical field. The ailment is commonly known as pasties or cottonmouth.  The immediate effect is the difficulty in speech and eating. It also causes foul breath, tooth decay or cavity and makes the mucosa of the mouth becoming vulnerable to infection. It is also responsible for the tooth decay caused by over use of the medicine methamphetamine. Majority of elderly people are normally affected by this disease.

Symptoms

In the human mouth on an average about 3 pints (1 pint = 500 ml) of saliva is secreted per day. The saliva performs many functions. It removes the food particles and plague from your teeth. The minerals in the saliva help destroy the bacteria responsible for spoiling the tooth enamel and causing infection. The acids in the mouth are neutralized by the saliva. The food digestion process is aided by the enzymes present in the saliva. The importance of saliva is such that it affects the teeth and digestion system when its secretion is affected.  

The symptoms of Xerostomia are listed as given below:

1. Thick or stringy saliva in the mouth
2. Sores or split skin on the mouth
3. Cracking on the lips
4. Foul breath
5. Speech and eating difficulty
6. Sore throat
7. Senseless taste
8. Tooth decay.

All the above symptoms are caused by the absence of saliva or dry mouth. Even though in the case of old people the salivary glands secrete less saliva, this does not cause Xerostomia in them. Apart from saliva deficiency, the disease is caused by the side effects of certain medications, certain diseases, infections and certain medical treatments.  Medicines used for the treatment of depression, obesity, epilepsy etc may cause Xerostomia. Dry mouth may result in diseases like Alsheimer’s decease, diabetes, anemia cystic etc. Sometimes medical treatments for chrmotherapy cancer may result in Xerostomia.  Nerve damage to the head and neck area may cause this also. 

Treatment

The treatment for this disease should start by first identifying the reasons for it. If Xerostomia is the result of saliva deficiency, drugs like pilocarpine (Salagen) or Cevimeline (Evoxac) may be used for the enhancement of saliva segregation. In the case of over dose of medications, doctors can be consulted for adjusting the dosage so that medicine intake will be controlled. Use of drugs like decongestants and antihistamines should be avoided for Xerostomia treatment. Oral hygiene is very important.

When you observe red like things on the oral mucosa with burning sensations then you have an oral infection caused by the yeast Candida. You have to consult your physician or dentist for diagnosis and take treatment as it may lead to dry mouth 

Pharmacotherapy treatment of Xerostomia focused on three prong approaches. They include producing saliva substitutes, stimulating the salivary gland activity through muscarinic agents and treatment with immune suppressive drugs. This treatment technique requires some more development before fully extended for practice.

One of the treatment procedures include coping with the disease just like people live other ailments like diabetes, breathing problems, cancer etc. To manage the disease, some simple treatments can be employed by the patients themselves.

Self-care treatments of Xerostomia include the following;
1. Water should be sipped regularly.
2. Sucking sugar-free candy. 
3. Chewing sugar-free gum.
4. To keep the mouth moist, plenty of water should be taken
5. Fluoride toothpaste can be used for brushing the teeth.
6. Fluoride rinse may be used for cleaning
7. Visit the dentist regularly
8. Breathing activity should be done through nose only and breathing through mouth should be avoided.
9. In the bedroom, moisture can be increased through a room vaporizer.
10. Acidic food and hard candy should be avoided
11. Smoking or chewing tobacco should be avoided to reduce dry mouth symptoms
12. The counter saliva substitutes can be tried.

Recently acupuncture therapy has been found very effective in the treatment of Xerostomia. In this, the local acupuncture points on the face of the patient are used for treatment. After following it up on long term basis the patients affected by dry mouth with acupuncture, it has been found that the treatment has resulted in the increase flow of salivary rate for 6 months. This can be increased to 3 years with further treatment with acupuncture therapy. It requires some more testing in this regard to make acupuncture therapy more successful.  

Electrical stimulation of salivary flow can treat the decease to a great extent. In 1992, a test was conducted and it was found that stimulation with electric current improves the salivary production. However this treatment has not been approved by the medical world as testing under treatment procedure is not yet completed.

It may be observed that Xerostomia can be treated. Wherever the symptoms are observed, preventive measures to be taken immediately. You may do a simple test. When you take more than two licks to seal an envelope and go for a tape then there is a possibility that you have the symptoms of the disease.