Dry Mouth Causes and Treatments
Contrary to popular belief, experiencing a
dry mouth at night is more than just a minor annoyance, since it can
worsen your dental and oral health, impair your sense of taste, and
cause digestive issues in the long term. Apart from that, it can take a
toll on your confidence and psychological well being. Clearly, this
common health issue shouldn’t be treated lightly, especially since the
condition is easy to fix in the vast majority of cases. In this article,
we’ll focus on the symptoms, causes, and home treatments of dry mouth
to help you understand and deal with the condition more effectively.
What Is Dry Mouth?
Dry mouth, or xerostomia, as it is known in medical literature, is a widespread
condition where the salivary glands cannot produce enough saliva to keep
the mouth cavity moist enough. The condition results in a variety of
uncomfortable symptoms, which include:
Bad breath
A sore or hoarse throat ranging from mild to severe
A dry or sticky feeling in your mouth
Thick saliva
Difficulty swallowing or speaking
Dry or fissured tongue
Dry or cracked lips
Problems with wearing dentures.
As you know, saliva plays a very important role in preventing dental
problems and maintaining oral health, since it has antibacterial
properties and neutralizes harmful acids produced by bacteria that live
in your mouth, which can cause tooth decay. Apart from that, saliva
enhances the taste of food and helps digest food, which makes it crucial
for healthy nutrition and digestion. As mentioned previously, a
deficiency of saliva can thus produce oral, dental, and digestive
issues.
Since the condition also often comes along
with bad breath and a sore and uncomfortable throat, it is also known to
impair the emotional and psychological well-being of patients and
become the source of nervousness and irritability for many. Many
conditions, certain medications, and other factors can cause dry mouth,
with the following 8 points on the list being the major causes of the
condition.
1. Breathing Through the Mouth
Sleeping with your mouth open is one of the major causes of dry mouth.
During the night, you don't hydrate your body the way you do throughout
the day while breathing more deeply than usual, which is guaranteed to
dry out your mouth cavity and throat if you breathe through your mouth.
Certain sleep conditions, such as obstructive sleep apnea and snoring
can cause dry mouth, with patients suffering from apnea being 10 times
more likely to suffer from dry mouth than those who don't according to
one study. Those suffering from congestion and any other condition that
makes it more difficult for you to breathe through the nose can likewise
cause dry mouth.
2. Aging
With age, all of our soft tissues tend to become less hydrated as they
lose collagen, the lining of your mouth and throat included. At the same
time, the salivary glands can start producing less saliva, and all this
can make you more likely to experience dry mouth than people younger
than you.
Statistical analyses show that around 30% of adults over the age of 65
and 40% of those past the age of 80 suffer from dry mouth. That being
said, age is often not the only contributing factor to dry mouth, and
other conditions, medications or habits together with a more advanced
age usually cause the condition.
3. Sjögren’s syndrome 
Sjögren’s syndrome is an autoimmune condition, the primary symptom of
which is dry mouth. The immune system of patients suffering from the
disorder attacks its tear glands and salivary glands, which, in turn,
stop producing enough saliva and tears. As a result, the person will
experience a sensation of dryness in their eyes and mouth, which often
gets worse at night when the body naturally produces less of these
bodily liquids.
Unfortunately, there is no known cure for the condition, and the doctor
will typically prescribe medications that urge the glands to produce
more saliva, as well as topical treatments to reduce the symptoms of the
condition.
4. Diabetes
Patients suffering from diabetes can likewise experience dry mouth as a
result of their condition. High sugar levels can make you more likely to
experience dehydration, which can cause dry mouth. Apart from that,
certain diabetes medications can cause the condition, so it's especially
important for diabetic patients to stay hydrated at all costs.
5. Smoking and Alcohol
Harmful habits, such as smoking and drinking alcohol can be the reason
why you're experiencing dry mouth as well. Smoking tobacco is especially
dangerous, as it is capable of decreasing salivary flow. In a 2010
study, 39% of smokers were found to experience dry mouth compared to
only 12% of nonsmokers.
Dehydrating drinks, such as alcohol, coffee, and even mouthwash that
contains alcohol can likewise contribute to dry mouth at night,
especially if you use them in the evening.
6. Allergies
Allergies, seasonal or not, can contribute
to dry mouth as well because they often cause a blocked nose, which
makes you breathe through the nose. Apart from that, inflamed soft
tissues in the nasal and oral cavity common in allergy sufferers
themselves often feel drier and sore, in which case a dry mouth will be a
symptom of the underlying allergy.
Treating the allergy with antihistamines will relieve the symptom in the
long term, but keep in mind that certain allergy medications can cause
short term dry mouth as well, so combining them with proper hydration is
key.
7. Alzheimer's Disease 
While Alzheimer's disease itself doesn't directly cause dry mouth, the
condition makes it more difficult for patients to maintain proper
hydration, as it becomes more difficult to get a drink yourself or
communicate to someone that you're thirsty. Dry mouth is by far not the
worst symptom associated with dehydration, patients can also feel dizzy
or may even require hospitalization if they become severely dehydrated.
8. Certain Medications and Treatments
A number of medications, as well as some cancer treatments, can cause
dry mouth as a side effect. Both chemotherapy and treatments of neck and
head cancer can contribute to dry mouth, for example. Some of the most
common medications associated with dry mouth include:
blood pressure medication
antidepressants
antihistamines
diuretics
drugs used to treat sinus issues
certain medications used to treat Parkinson's disease
drugs used to help sleeping issues.
Most of these medications are life-saving and will have to be
continued by the patient even if dry mouth persists, but it's still
possible to treat the dry mouth symptomatically, which is exactly what
we will discuss in the following section.
Home Treatments of Dry Mouth
Few things are as unpleasant as waking up
with a dry mouth in the middle of the night, desperately reaching for a
glass of water. To make sure that dry mouth no longer wakes you up in
the middle of the night, you can incorporate these tips into your life:
1. Avoid alcohol and coffee at night, and stop smoking if you do.
2. Use an air humidifier in your bedroom throughout the night. If you
don't have one, you can simply put a bowl of water or a wet towel near a
heat source in your room.
3. Suck on ice cubes, chew sugar-free gum, or eat sugar-free candy or
lozenges during the day, as all of these promote the production of
saliva.
4. Hydration, hydration, and hydration: incorporate water even with your
meals and sip on cool water all day.
5. Maintain good oral hygiene by brushing your teeth twice a day and
flossing on a daily basis to prevent dental complications.
6. Use hydrating nasal and oral sprays to prevent dehydration of the
soft tissues.
Best of all, you can use these tips irrespective of the cause of dry
mouth. Also, you can and should combine any of these tips to make sure
your oral cavity is hydrated and supplied with as much saliva as it
needs, and thus happy and health.