Contents:
- Medical Video: How to Fix a Sore Throat within 2 Minutes! WITHOUT Pills, Herbs or Drugs
- How to deal with dry mouth that you need to know
- 1. Find out the cause
- 2. Increase saliva production
- 3. Apply a healthy lifestyle
Medical Video: How to Fix a Sore Throat within 2 Minutes! WITHOUT Pills, Herbs or Drugs
The function of saliva is very important for your body. Saliva produced by the salivary gland serves as a neutralizing acid in the mouth and prevents bacterial growth. In addition, saliva also increases the sensory function of the taste to detect taste, chew, and swallow food. In fact, saliva contains a number of enzymes needed by the digestive system.
When the production of saliva decreases, dry mouth can occur. This condition is known as medical xerostomia. The causes vary, such as using certain drugs, aging problems, or side effects from cancer radiation therapy.
If your mouth is dry, not only does your appetite decrease. The health of your teeth and gums will also be affected. Don't worry, this condition can be overcome and prevented in the following ways.
How to deal with dry mouth that you need to know
In order for you to avoid and be free of dry mouth problems, try applying the following method to treat dry mouth.
1. Find out the cause
Medications to treat depression, anxiety, pain, allergies or diarrhea sometimes make your mouth dry. If you use drugs to cure the disease and feel very disturbed by dry mouth conditions, changing drugs is the solution.
Consult a doctor to help you choose alternative medicine and adjust the dosage. While for dry mouth due to chemotherapy, Alzheimer's disease, or Sjögren's syndrome, how to overcome it by increasing saliva production.
2. Increase saliva production
To increase saliva production, the doctor will recommend various products for you to try. Surely the doctor has also considered its safety when you use it. The product consists of flouride toothpaste, mouthwash containing xylitol, or moisturizing gel formulated for dry mouth.
Your doctor may prescribe several drugs to increase saliva production such as pilocarpine (salagen) and cevimeline (evoxac).
Quoted from the page of The American Academy of Oral Medicine, the Cevimiline drug has been FDA approved in the United States (equivalent to the POM Agency in Indonesia) for patients with Sjögren's syndrome to treat dry mouth. Pilocarpine is also safe to use for people undergoing head and neck radiation therapy.
The drugs Cevimiline and Pilocarpine work with certain nerves to increase the amount of saliva, making the mouth feel more comfortable to talk and swallow.
You can also try ways to deal with dry mouth naturally, by adding spices such as fennel seeds, chilies, or cardamom to food or drink. The spicy taste of chili can stimulate the production of more salivary glands.
Fennel or cardamom seeds can eliminate bad breath due to dry mouth and prevent the production of saliva decreases. You can enjoy both of these herbs as tea. Remember, if you have irritated your dry mouth, you should avoid spicy or sour food.
3. Apply a healthy lifestyle
Changing your lifestyle to be healthier is a way to prevent dry mouth from happening again. The method is quite easy, follow some important rules below.
- Do not use alcohol or peroxide based mouthwash
- Reduce caffeine intake from coffee, tea, chocolate, soft drinks, or alcohol that makes you thirsty fast
- Limit dry, sugary or salty foods that make you thirsty fast and hurt your mouth
- Maintain oral hygiene with regular toothbrushes and dental floss
- Stop smoking and drink more water
