Just like food can have an affect on your mouth, oral medications can, too. One of the primary problems that come after taking an oral medication is dry mouth.
Dry mouth is when your mouth’s saliva glands are not producing enough saliva, making it hard to talk, and generally be comfortable. If the removal of medication from your life doesn’t help, it may be an underlying issue that was brought out by the medication.
What Are the Types of Medications That Cause Dry-Mouth?
There are a number of medications on the market that cause this issue, including:
- Pain killers
- High blood pressure medications
- Anxiety and anti-depressants
- Diuretics
- Antihistamines
While these aren’t the only ones, these are the most common culprits. Other issues that may arise from taking medication include your gums bleeding after you’ve brushed or flossed them, ulcers in the tissues of your mouth, inflammation, burning, tingling, or numbness of your gums, and something called taste alteration. This is when the composition of your taste buds become altered from exposure to the medication and may cause you to have an array of new/effected tastes.
How to Relieve Dry Mouth
If you’re suffering from dry mouth from a medication, you should consider talking with your doctor about an alternative medication, so you can take yourself off of the one that gives you dry mouth. Another solution can be to chew a type of sugar-free candy or gum, reduce the caffeine you intake. In doing so, you can re-energize your salivary glands to produce more saliva.
If you’re experiencing dry mouth, or need a professional to diagnose you, contact Smiles Dentistry at (416) 588-8004 today.