Suffering from a dry mouth? It could be because of your meds

Various medicines can give you the feeling of a dry mouth. Dry mouth often develops when you use several medicines at the same time. Older people especially suffer from this. They usually use more drugs and often experience more side effects than young people. Sometimes a dry mouth is accompanied by reduced saliva production. Yet it is not known for many medicines whether the amount of saliva has actually decreased with a dry mouth.

Examples of medications that can cause dry mouth include:

• Hay fever medicines, such as cetirizine
• Anti-inflammatory pain relievers (NSAIDs), such as naproxen
• antacids, such as omeprazole
• Antibiotics, such as doxycycline
• Diuretics, such as furosemide
• Blood pressure lowering drugs, such as the beta-blocker atenolol or the ACE inhibitor perindopril
• Antidepressants, such as sertraline

Too little saliva can cause unpleasant symptoms. For example, an unpleasant feeling of dry mouth, bad breath and problems with speaking and eating. It can also reduce the health of your mouth. In severe cases you can suffer from redness and breakdown of your oral mucosa, a fungal infection in the mouth, accumulation of food remains, and cavities and wear of the teeth.

artificial saliva

You can soothe a dry mouth by sucking on something. Slightly acidic or chewy foods can also help. For example, brown bread, carrot, cucumber or orange. You can also relieve dry mouth by regularly drinking small sips of water. You can also use artificial saliva if you have serious complaints. This is available without a prescription in the form of a mouth spray or mouth gel. There are different brands, for example: Bioxtra, Dentaid Xeros and Gum Hydral.

Always discuss side effects with your doctor. In case of serious complaints, it is also wise to visit your dentist to limit damage to your mouth and teeth.

Report side effect

Do you want to know if your medicine can cause taste disturbances? Then check the package leaflet or ask your doctor or pharmacist. Do you want to report a side effect? You can do that via myupdate.nl.