Does your mouth feel dry? There are dental health ramifications from a persistently dry mouth. The medical term for dry mouth is xerostomia (pronounced zero stomia). Many people have xerostomia and it can be caused by medications, Sjögren disease or as a result of radiation treatments for cancer.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that having a dry mouth can cause more cavities in the mouth. Why? Because the saliva acts like a buffer and is constantly working to return your mouth to a normal pH. pH is a measurement of how acidic or basic something is. Neutral, which is what we want, is around 7. But if we drink or eat acidic things, (like regular and diet pop, juice, oranges, power drinks, etc), our pH can plummet to 3 and remember battery acid is a 1!
So what can you do if you have a dry mouth?
First, don’t add any extra acid to your diet.
Try sipping water throughout the day.
Place a humidifier where you sleep.
Don’t use mouthwashes that contain alcohol.
Try products like Biotene or Xylimelts .
For more information on this topic, click here.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that having a dry mouth can cause more cavities in the mouth. Why? Because the saliva acts like a buffer and is constantly working to return your mouth to a normal pH. pH is a measurement of how acidic or basic something is. Neutral, which is what we want, is around 7. But if we drink or eat acidic things, (like regular and diet pop, juice, oranges, power drinks, etc), our pH can plummet to 3 and remember battery acid is a 1!
So what can you do if you have a dry mouth?
First, don’t add any extra acid to your diet.
Try sipping water throughout the day.
Place a humidifier where you sleep.
Don’t use mouthwashes that contain alcohol.
Try products like Biotene or Xylimelts .
For more information on this topic, click here.
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