Dry mouth: The condition of not having enough saliva to keep the mouth wet. This is due to inadequate function of the salivary glands. Everyone has dry mouth once in a while when they are nervous, upset or under stress. But if someone has a dry mouth most all of the time, it can be uncomfortable and lead to serious health problems.
Dry mouth can cause difficulties in tasting, chewing, swallowing, and speaking. If it goes untreated, severe dry mouth can also lead to increased levels of tooth decay and infections of the mouth such as thrush. Severe dry mouth is not a normal part of aging. It can be a clue to systemic diseases such as Sjogren syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, sarcoidosis, amyloidosis, and hypothyroidism. Some medications can also cause dry mouth.
Dry mouth is medically termed xerostomia. From the Greek "xeros" (dry) + "stoma" (mouth).
Read about dry mouth causes (dehydration, diabetes, Sjogren's syndrome, medications for allergies and anxiety), symptoms (sore throat, raw tongue) and treatment.
What do I need to know about dry mouth? Dry mouth is the feeling that there is not enough saliva in the mouth. Everyone has a dry mouth once in a while—if ...
Every now and then one of my patients will complain that their mouth feels dry much of the time and that this feeling actually wakes them up at night. This is a fairly ...
Dry mouth — Comprehensive overview covers symptoms, causes, treatment of lack of saliva (xerostomia).
Dry mouth sounds benign but can be a big problem. Find out what causes a lack of saliva and how it's treated.