What Causes Dry Mouth?

What causes dry mouth?  This sounds like a question that would have an easy answer.  You would think that this would be a question that could be answered in a few words but really there are many causes of dry mouth.  These many causes also come with many solutions.

Dehydration

Dehydration is one condition that you would expect to have dry mouth as a symptom.  If your body does not have enough water in it then your mouth is going to be dry.  But even this one cause can happen for many reasons like the following.

  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Fever
  • Excessive sweating
  • Blood loss
  • Burns

Diseases And Infections

Dry mouth can also be a symptom of any one of a long list of diseases and infections.  You may not realize that these conditions could be causing your dry mouth symptoms, but they could be to blame.  Here are some of the medical conditions that can cause dry mouth.

  • HIV/AIDS
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Anemia
  • Stroke
  • Mumps
  • Diabetes
  • Hypertension
  • Cystic fibrosis
  • Parkinson’s disease
  • Rheumatoid arthritis

Medications

Medications often have side effects and dry mouth can be one of these side effects.  The list of medications that can contribute to or cause dry mouth symptoms is almost endless.  Here are just a few of the conditions that have drug treatments that can cause dry mouth.

  • Pain
  • Allergies
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Hypertension
  • Acne
  • Obesity
  • Epilepsy
  • Diarrhea
  • Nausea
  • Colds

Nerve Damage

If you sustain an injury to your head or neck then you could have dry mouth.  The reason for this is that the nerves that control saliva production can get damaged during injuries or even during surgical procedures.  If this happens then the nerves may no longer tell your salivary glands to produce saliva which could leave your mouth very dry.

Alcohol And Tobacco Products

Alcohol, smoking, and chewing tobacco can all cause dry mouth, too.

What causes dry mouth?  After reading this you probably realize that just about anything can cause dry mouth, and this isn’t even a complete list of the possible causes.  If you have a dry mouth then the OraMD 4-Step Oral Hygiene Program can help to ease your symptoms.  There may be many causes of dry mouth, but when you have it you can only think of one thing.  Relief.

November 5th, 2010 | Health | 49 comments

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