Five Tips for Dealing With Dry Mouth Brought on by Seasonal Change
Spring, whose approach is typically associated with blue skies and blossoming flowers, can bring with it a feeling of dread for those who suffer from dry mouth. Clinically termed xerostomia, dry mouth is a condition that affects about one-fifth of the global population and can often become worse during seasonal shifts.
While winter air and lower humidity levels are the typical culprits of worsening dry mouth symptoms, many are surprised to find that spring and its blooming landscapes can also exacerbate dry mouth symptoms. When this happens, traditional dry mouth treatments, such as electrostimulation via the SaliPen, prescription medications, and OTC saliva substitutes, may need adjustments or warrant complementary dry mouth therapy options.
In this blog post, we’ll explore why seasonal changes exacerbate dry mouth and offer five tips for coping with this challenge.
Dry Mouth: More Than Feeling Thirsty
Clinical dry mouth is more than feeling thirsty or parched. It’s a recognized medical condition in which the salivary glands don’t produce enough saliva. Yes, this can cause extreme thirst and dry lips and tongue, but it also causes a host of other symptoms.
These include:
- Burning throat, tongue, and lips
- Change in taste
- Halitosis
- Rampant dental caries
- Frequent oral infections
On their own, these symptoms are bad enough, but when they are exacerbated due to seasonal changes, they can greatly detract from the quality of life of those who suffer from dry mouth.
What Causes Dry Mouth?
There are five main causes of clinical dry mouth:
- Medication: Medication is the most common cause of dry mouth, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, diuretics, antihypertensives, sedatives, muscle relaxants, antihistamines, and more.
- Radiation treatment for head and neck cancer: Radiation treatment for people with cancer in the head and neck regions can damage the salivary glands, resulting in the inability to produce sufficient saliva or high-quality saliva.
- Disease: Sjögren’s syndrome, a chronic autoimmune disease, is a common cause of dry mouth. Estimates of those who have Sjögren’s syndrome range between 400,000 and 3.1 million adults. Other diseases associated with dry mouth include systemic lupus erythematosus, diabetes, viral infection, end-stage renal disease, sarcoidosis, and more.
- Polypharmacy: Regardless of whether a specific medication causes dry mouth, research has shown that taking more than one medication at a time (polypharmacy) is associated with dry mouth.
- Dehydration: Fluid in the body is a prerequisite for the salivary glands to produce enough saliva. When people don’t drink enough and get dehydrated, the salivary glands won’t be able to produce enough saliva. (Fortunately, unless there are other compounding factors, dehydration can be cured by drinking more water or with an IV line.)
While these are the main causes of xerostomia, other conditions can contribute, such as anxiety, stress, mouth breathing, sleep apnea, and more.
Why Spring Can Exacerbate Dry Mouth Symptoms
No matter the cause of dry mouth, the condition tends to get worse in the winter months, as cold weather and indoor heating naturally dry out the mouth. For those who suffer from clinical dry mouth, an additional level of dryness isn’t good.
Unfortunately, some people with dry mouth experience worsening symptoms with the onset of spring as well.
This can be due to:
- Allergies: Spring allergies can lead to mouth breathing, especially at night, which dries out the oral cavity. Antihistamines may be used to treat allergies, but many of these result in xerostomia as a side effect.
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): SAD is a subset of depression that is brought about by a change in weather. SAD appears more typically with the coming of winter, but it can also appear with the onset of spring.
- Temperature fluctuations: Sudden shifts from cold to warm, which often come along with the use of fans or air conditioning, can confuse the body’s natural moisture balance, particularly in the mouth and throat.
- Dehydration: As the weather warms up, the body loses more water through sweat. If fluid intake doesn’t increase accordingly, dry mouth symptoms worsen.
- Outdoor Activity: More time outside means more exposure to pollen, wind, and sun — all of which can contribute to mouth dryness.
Just one or a combination of the above factors can aggravate dry mouth symptoms and make them even more difficult to bear.
Fortunately, there are several ways to combat these symptoms, as we’ll enumerate below.
Five Tips for Managing Dry Mouth in the Spring
- Drink A Lot of Water
As the weather gets warmer, it’s crucial for those who suffer from dry mouth to drink enough water. Lack of water makes it even more difficult for struggling salivary glands to produce sufficient saliva. Keeping a bottle of water next to you at all times can make it easier to remember to drink and track how much you drink.
- Avoid Caffeine, Alcohol, and Sugary Drinks
Not only is drinking water important, but staying away from beverages that contain caffeine, alcohol, and/or sugar is also important. Caffeine and alcohol are diuretics, which cause the body to lose water. Sugar is never recommended for people with dry mouth, as it’s a major cause of cavities and oral health — and people with dry mouth are already prone to these issues.
- Use a Humidifier at Night
Dry mouth often gets worse at night, as the body naturally produces less saliva. And as the weather gets warmer in the spring and summer, people are more likely to sleep with air conditioning, which dries out the air (and subsequently, the mouth).
Sleeping with a humidifier in the room can help restore moisture to the environment, easing the discomfort of dry mouth. A humidifier is especially useful during allergy season when people are more likely to breathe through their mouths due to nasal congestion.
- Switch to Alcohol-Free Mouthwash
Many commercial mouthwashes contain alcohol, which dries out the mouth. Instead, use alcohol-free formulations or look for products specifically designed for dry mouth, such as those with aloe vera or xylitol.
- Adjust Your Current Dry Mouth Treatment Plan
The best dry mouth treatment plans are often those that combine several treatment approaches, which mainly include:
- Electrostimulation via a device such as the SaliPen, produced by Saliwell
- Medication such as Cevimeline and Pilocarpine
- Artificial saliva
If the change in weather is making your dry mouth symptoms more severe, go to your doctor or dentist and talk to them about adjusting your treatment plan to reflect your current situation.
Reduce Dry Mouth Symptoms, Increase Quality of Life
Spring is a beautiful season, but those whose dry mouth symptoms increase with the seasonal change might have a harder time enjoying it. By understanding the seasonal factors that exacerbate dry mouth and taking proactive steps to relieve the symptoms, it’s possible to keep xerostomia in check and enjoy everything spring has to offer.
FAQS
Does seasonal change always exacerbate dry mouth symptoms?
No, seasonal change doesn’t exacerbate dry mouth symptoms for everyone, but it does affect a portion of the population that suffers from dry mouth. If your dry mouth doesn’t worsen with seasonal change, great. If it does, the tips in this blog post can help.
Will dry mouth go away on its own?
No, clinical dry mouth doesn’t go away on its own, and if left untreated, symptoms are likely to worsen. Fortunately, there are many treatment options, including electrostimulation, medication, saliva substitutes, and lifestyle changes.
How does electrostimulation for dry mouth work?
Intraoral electrostimulation works by stimulating the salivary glands to naturally produce more saliva. This is performed using a handheld device, such as the SaliPen, and can be easily done at home. The benefits of electrostimulation as a dry mouth treatment are that it has no side effects, unlike medication, and it treats the root of the problem, unlike saliva substitutes, which treat the symptom.
