How Can I Relieve Dry Mouth?

My mouth and throat feel constantly dried out. I’ve tried drinking more water and using throat lozenges and candy drops throughout the day. Nothing seems to help. Any suggestions? My doctor says it is not Sjorgren’s disease.

Dry mouth is a very common problem, especially in someone taking medication (many blood pressure medications, especially, cause dry mouth). But in addition to drugs, other causes of dry mouth include:

• Excessive salt in the diet
• Smoking
• Alcoholic beverages
• Caffeinated beverages
• Mouthwashes
• Breathing through the mouth

Another cause of dry mouth may be an imbalance of the autonomic nervous system. In this case, potassium and magnesium can be very helpful. Alfalfa tablets are a good inexpensive source of these two minerals.

Deficiencies of iodine, vitamin B2 (riboflavin) or niacin (B3) can also cause dry mouth problems. Sometimes a B-complex will relieve dry mouth, but in this case taking the individual B-vitamins separately seems to work much better.

I wouldn't recommend candy or throat lozenges to relieve dry mouth because they can lead to tooth decay—especially when you're low on protective saliva.

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