What does a diabetic dry mouth feel like?  

You may be able to make an egg out of rocks and tiles in the summer or when the sun’s shining so bright. In these conditions, the common thing you will complain about is having a dry mouth.  You’re going to drink a lot of water, knowing that you’re going to get dehydrated because of the hot temperature. Despite this, maybe you will feel like there is no amount of water that can help you feel better and this may make you think how this dry mouth is happening. Perhaps you’ve been wondering what this is all about.

You probably are surprised that dry mouth can affect those with diabetes. Certainly these people need diabetes care. Diabetes is certainly not a new disease. The fact that everyone possibly knows a person close to them or a family member has diabetes, shows how common diabetes is in the society. More than 422 million people worldwide have diabetes and about 1.5 million deaths have been recorded each year due to diabetes. Sadly, diabetes cases kept on increasing over the past few decades and shows no sign of backing down. A person will usually find doctors when diabetes has caused severe effects to their health such as sores on the foot that do not heal or increase numbness or tingling of the limbs.

A person is diagnosed with diabetes when their blood sugar level is too high. These can precipitate many health problems such as higher risk for heart disease, damaging the nerve, causing eye problems and possible kidney failure. Although this blood sugar level is only known from a blood test, a person could be showing symptoms of diabetes long before he or she knows their blood sugar level. Most common symptoms include increased thirst and urination, excessive hunger, unexplained weight loss and easily fatigue. There is another symptom that is not often highlighted in diabetes patients: dry mouth.

Dry mouth or in medical terms, xerostomia is a subjective feeling of oral dryness caused by conditions that predispose to insufficient saliva that preserved the mouth to remain wet. It is a common symptom that patients with diabetes face although the exact mechanism causing this condition is not fully known. It can be due to the high glucose in the body causing less saliva to be produced by the salivary glands and a side effect resulting from the diabetes medication itself such as metformin. Although it is said to be a subjective feeling of dryness of the mouth, visible signs such as cracked dry lips, reddish dried of the walls inside the mouth, prominent grooves or small furrows on tongue’s surface (fissured tongue) and lack of saliva on the mouth’s floor can be seen.

Having a dry mouth may seem harmless but in reality, it causes great discomfort for the patient. A prolonged dry mouth can interfere the mouth function like chewing and swallowing. Eating food may not give pleasure as the taste sensation is altered due to decreased or absence of saliva. It may also cause great emotional distress as the patient will have difficulty to talk and communicate with others. Patients with xerostomia in the long run are susceptible to mouth infection, smelly breath and ulcers. This is certainly terrifying for diabetes as the patient’s body ability to fight the infection or ulcers is relatively low and will take a very long time to heal.

Hence, it is important for patients to acknowledge signs of xerostomia so that they can go to the dentist or physicians to get medical advice and treatment. Sialogogue drugs may be prescribed to help the salivary gland produce more saliva. Sometimes, temporary relief by using saliva substitute may be given to help form a protective film around the surfaces inside the mouth. This saliva substitute exists in forms of gel, sprays, toothpaste and mouthwash.

There are steps can be taken to reduce the dry mouth symptoms:

•         Take sips of cold water regularly and during meal time, preferable sugarless drink
•         Chew sugar free candy or chewing gum to aid stimulation of saliva produced
•         Avoid drinking caffeinated drinks such as coffee, tea and chocolate
•         Avoid eating spicy, salty and acidic food giving sour taste
•         Do not drink alcohol
•         Do not smoke
•         Consider usage of humidifier in the room

Xerostomia can be caused by other several causes such as:

1- Medicine’s adverse effects.  OTC prescription and medications are the most frequent cause of dry mouth such as furosemide, antidiarrheal, antidepressants and antihistamine such as cetirizine

2-Radiation therapy. Therapy of the head and neck cancer using radiation.

3-Diseases. Thyroid disease, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjogren syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), HIV/AIDS and end-stage renal diseases (ESRD).

4-Dehydration. Excessive perspiration or less drinking water due to sickness

5-Psychological effect. Anxiety and depression.