Parkville Dental Center

Dental health and dry mouth. We all need saliva to moisten and cleanse our mouths and digest food. Saliva also prevents infection by controlling bacteria and fungi. When we don't produce enough saliva, our mouth gets dry and uncomfortable. Fortunately, there are many effective treatments for dry mouth. The next couple of days we will be posting more information on dry mouth.

What causes dry mouth? There are several causes of dry mouth. These include: Side effect of certain medications. Dry mouth is a common side effect of many prescription and nonprescription drugs, including drugs used to treat depression, anxiety,pain,allergies and colds.  Drugs to treat obesity,acne,epilepsy, hypertension, asthma can also cause dry mouth.

Side effect of certain diseases and infections. Dry mouth can be a side effect of medical conditions, including Sjogren's syndrome, HIV/AIDS, azheimer's disease, diabetes, anemia,cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, stroke and mumps.