2009/3/27

Home remedies for dry mouth

A dry mouth due to paucity of saliva may be part of a generalized illness or a feature of 'old age'. It is a most distressing condition making eating difficult and causing chronic dental problems as saliva is essential to oral hygiene. There are luckily several synthetic saliva preparations available form the chemist and a former pharmacist, Mr Paul Goriup from East Sussex makes the following observation — firstly that red wine drunk in the evening can cause dry mouth at night and secondly that central heating can have a similar effect by drying up the air for which the antidote is to place a bowl of water in each room.

Two contributors submitted unusual remedies which they maintain stimulate saliva production.

String: When Mrs Gogi Younger from Manchester discovered this treatment, her doctor advised that she should patent it: 1 put a bit of thread in my mouth, usually a small bit of thickish cotton scrunched up into a small ball and leave in my mouth and cheek usually changing a few times a day. I carry my cut off bits of string in my handbag at home and am never without. I have accidentally swallowed the occasional small bit of thread many times and it has done no harm. This remedy has certainly changed my life.'

Paper hanky: Mr M. Nichols from Kent describes his remedy as follows: 'Cut a strip off a paper handkerchief one and a quarter inches by approximately five inches and roll it up. Place it along the front of the mouth between the teeth. Close the mouth. Gently press the paper between the teeth while using the tip of the tongue to rotate the paper. After repeating these movements several times, the paper does seem to activate the moisture in the mouth.'

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