How to get rid of cotton mouth quickly and easily

What is cotton mouth?

Most of us would have experienced the sensation of “cotton mouth” oat one point in lifetime. Cotton mouth or also known as xerostomia describes the sensation of having such dry mouth that your mouth feels like it is full of cotton.

What does cotton mouth do?

A dry mouth happens when the mouth becomes so dry. Saliva will keep our mouth smoothed, moist and when the saliva production is down, daily tasks might become troublesome and it might pose the threats of developing oral health problems. Even though your mouth might not as dry as this much, it can impact your life in different ways like making you always thirsty or impairing the taste.

Moreover, saliva also plays an important role in our daily life when it is meant to keep our mouth clean since it controls the number of fungi and bacteria in our mouth which subsequently prevents infections. Therefore, lack of saliva or slow saliva production can increase the probabilities of having problems with oral health such as oral thrush,gingivitis and tooth decay.

Symptoms of cotton mouth

The most common symptom of this problems is obviously an extremely dry mouth, however, there are more symptoms to watch out:

·       

•   A sticky sensation in your mouth
• ·         A dry throat
• ·         Frequent thirst
• ·         A red and raw tongue
• ·         Difficulties in speaking
• ·         Difficulties in chewing, swallowing, andtasting
• ·         A burning or tingling feeling in your mouth
• ·         Dry nasal passages
• ·         Sores in the mouth or on the surrounding area
• ·         Bad breath

Home remedies for cotton mouth

Drink More Water

This seems to be the most obvious suggestion to treat cotton mouth problem. However, even though the best method is to taking more liquid, you need to make sure that you are drinking frequently throughout the day to keep your mouth moist rather taking a big gulp once your mouth starts to feel dry.

Remember to take sufficient amount of liquid especially water because if you take soda or soft drinks, that might not be effective. Once you start to drink water more frequently, you will quickly realize the outcomes and a number of health benefits from this habits.

Drink less alcoholic drinks

It seems a common knowledge is that alcohol will dehydrate the body which will subsequently lead to a dry mouth. Alcohol can reduce the production of an anti – diuretic hormone in the body which helps with the body reabsorption process and urination. In other words, the more alcohol you take, the more fluid you lose.

You do not need to cut out completely, but reduce your consumption as much as you can, the chance of developing cotton mouth will be reduced sharply. In case you are unprepared for liming your alcohol intake, make sure that you will take enough amount of fluid to replace the lost fluid.

Reduce Your CaffeineIntake

Having similar effect as alcohol, caffeine poses a threat of having dry mouth if being overused. Since caffeine is a diuretic, it can increase urination. Therefore, it can lead to your body lose more fluid than it should. If this fluid is not replaced, dry mouth can happen.

Simply reduce the coffee consumption to decrease the probability of having dry mouth instead of cutting coffee out completely. Alternatively, you can opt for decaffeinated drinks instead of consuming caffeinated drinks excessively. If caffeinated drinks are your vines, then you can replace them with glasses of water to raise your water consumption.

Change Your Mouthwash

Have you ever thought that your daily mouthwash is the culprit of these troublesome problems? By changing the type of your mouthwash, you can reduce the chance of having dry mouth. Most of mouthwash are made from alcohol – based mixtures, therefore, it can cause dehydration and subsequently lead to dryness of mouth due to its diuretic characteristics.

By simply avoid choosing the alcohol – based mouthwash and avoid using the mouthwash too frequently, you can necessarily decrease the chance of suffering from dry mouth problem. It is better to replace it by an alcohol – free mouthwash which has been especially designated for those who are suffering from cotton mouth. By doing this, you can avoid dry mouth problem while gaining the same benefits as usual mouthwash.

Moreover, choosing the mouthwash that has the component xylitol which is significantly effective in preventing gingivitis – causing plaque as well as tooth decay at the same time also keeping your mouth moist.

Stop Smoking

Studies have proven that chewing tobacco or smoking is one of the most common cause for the dry mouth.

The salivary flow rate in those who smoke is proven to be lower than non – smokers and that those who regularly smoke was far more likely to experience cotton mouth. Moreover, it has also been indicated that oral disorders that are regularlyconnected to having cotton mouth problem.

Breathe Through Your Nose

Another common cause of a severely cotton mouth is the individual’s breathing behavior. One of simple waysto avoid having a cotton mouth is to inhale and exhale via your nose instead of using your mouth to breathe. Because when you use your mouth to breathe, the air will hit the inside of the mouth and lead to dryness of your gums and tongue. Subsequently, dry sensation will keep swallowing and eating process become more difficult.

Breathing via your mouth will be even more troublesome if it occurs during your sleep due to longer period. The mouth is not supposed to unnaturally condition which the gums and tongue are supposed to during this period, thus the discomfort feeling will become even worse during the night. Your body will wake you up frequently to tell you that your body is thirsty.

Though this habit is a bit hard to get rid of, breathing using your nasal passages will be the best method to getting rid of this.

Alter Your Air

In addition to changing the way that you breathe at night, you can also change the air that you are inhaling in to fight back dry mouth. The air which you are inhaling in every day might be lack of moisture and this could be the reason that your mouth is dry during night time and it might pose a threats to your saliva production too.

By using a humidifier to add more moisture to the air, you will not have to suffer from dry mouth as well as dry skin. However, if humidifier is too expensive for you, you can try online tutorial to make yourself one.

Moreover, other ways to add more moisture into the air is that boiling the kettle more regularly, having a houseplant and drying clothes indoors. Also, you can treat your dry mouth by using a facial sauna, taking a hot bath and inhaling the steam when it is released to the air. 

Stimulate Your Saliva

The simplest way to get rid of cotton mouth is to regulate your saliva production. If your saliva production slows down, as a result, your mouth will be dry, why not try to give your mouth a hand by chewing some sugar – free chewing gum or eating some hard candies to stimulate and improve the saliva production.

This is a very simple solution for this annoying problem and keep some chewing gum or some hard candies in your pocket so that you can quickly and easily get rid of discomfort sensation caused by dry mouth.

Just keep in mind that it is always better to try out natural home remedies before opting for medicine. It is better to know that your treatment you are using have lesser side effects.

Reference:

https://carekees.com/how-to-get-rid-of-cottonmouth/