Dry Mouth (Xerostomia)

Dry mouth — the medical word is xerostomia (from the Greek for “dry” and “mouth”) — is the feeling that the mouth does not have enough saliva. It is far more than a nuisance. A 2024 review in JAMA reported that, in a pooled analysis of 26 population studies, about 23% of people had dry-mouth symptoms. The most common cause is medication; the other two big causes are radiation treatment for head and neck cancer and the autoimmune disease Sjögren’s syndrome. Because saliva is the mouth’s main natural defence, a dry mouth raises the risk of tooth decay, fungal infection (thrush), trouble swallowing and speaking, and problems wearing dentures. Most treatment today relieves symptoms and protects the teeth rather than curing the cause.

Table of Contents

  1. What Dry Mouth Is
  2. What Saliva Does
  3. Causes and Risk Factors
  4. Symptoms
  5. How Dry Mouth Is Diagnosed
  6. Treatment
  7. Prevention and Daily Measures
  8. Dry Mouth After Head and Neck Radiation
  9. Dry Mouth and Sjögren’s Syndrome
  10. Complications
  11. Warning Signs and Urgent Signs
  12. Key Research Papers
  13. Connections
  14. Featured Videos

What Dry Mouth Is

Two words are used for two slightly different things, and the difference matters:

The two usually go together, but not always. A review in the Journal of the American Dental Association notes that dry-mouth symptoms can occur without any measurable drop in gland output, and a review of radiation-induced dry mouth found that the complaint of dryness is poorly correlated with objective measurements of gland function. So one person can feel very dry with near-normal flow, and another can have low flow and notice little.

Saliva comes from three pairs of large glands — the parotid glands (in front of the ears), the submandibular glands (under the jaw) and the sublingual glands (under the tongue) — plus hundreds of tiny minor glands lining the lips, cheeks and palate. Saliva is made by clusters of secretory cells called acinar cells. Anything that blocks the nerve signal telling these cells to secrete (many medicines do this), or that damages or destroys the cells themselves (radiation, autoimmune attack), reduces the flow.

Reviews put the share of the population with xerostomia anywhere from 1% to 29%, depending on how it is measured, with women affected more often than men. It is especially common in older people — largely because they take more medicines — and in people with advanced illness.

How dry mouth develops and what it leads to What reduces saliva What saliva normally does When it is missing Medicines block the “secrete” signal Head and neck radiation kills secretory cells Sjögren’s syndrome immune cells invade glands Also: dehydration, mouth breathing, gland disease Salivary glands parotid · submandibular · sublingual • Neutralise acid • Rinse away food • Supply calcium and phosphate to repair enamel • Coat teeth with a protective film • Lubricate for chewing, swallowing and speech • Keep yeast in check Tooth decay often at the gum line Oral thrush Candida yeast overgrowth Chewing, swallowing, speaking problems Loose, sore dentures Taste changes, bad breath
Three main causes reduce the saliva the glands make. Saliva neutralises acid, rinses the teeth, supplies minerals for enamel repair and lubricates the mouth; without it, decay, thrush and trouble eating and speaking follow.

What Saliva Does

Most people never think about saliva until it is gone. An adult normally makes somewhere around half a litre to a litre and a half a day, most of it while eating. It does several jobs at once:

Every complication of dry mouth on this page is one of these jobs going undone.

Causes and Risk Factors

Medicines — the most common cause

A review in the Journal of the American Dental Association states that the most frequently reported cause of xerostomia is the use of medicines that dry the mouth. The JAMA review found that taking more than 3 oral medicines a day was linked with dry mouth (odds ratio 2.9 — that is, roughly three times the odds).

The largest systematic list comes from the World Workshop on Oral Medicine, which screened 3,867 records and identified 56 substances with a higher level of evidence and 50 with a moderate level of evidence of causing salivary gland dysfunction or dry mouth. These drugs came from 9 of the 14 main anatomical groups of the international drug classification — mainly medicines acting on the digestive, cardiovascular, urinary-genital, nervous and respiratory systems. Common groups linked with dry mouth in the dental literature include:

Many of these work by blocking acetylcholine, the nerve signal that tells salivary glands to secrete — which is why dry mouth is one of the most frequent side effects in medicine. The effect often adds up: two or three moderately drying medicines together can produce a severely dry mouth.

Radiation treatment for head and neck cancer

Radiation aimed at cancers of the mouth, throat and neck passes through the salivary glands. A 2019 review in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute Monographs calls salivary gland hypofunction and xerostomia the most manifest long-term consequences of radiation therapy in head and neck cancer. This is covered in its own section below.

Sjögren’s syndrome and other autoimmune disease

In Sjögren’s syndrome the immune system attacks the glands that make saliva and tears. It can occur on its own or alongside rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and related connective-tissue diseases. See the Sjögren’s section.

Other causes

Age

Healthy ageing by itself reduces salivary flow only modestly. Most of the dry mouth seen in older people comes from the medicines and illnesses that build up with age — which is why the problem is common in later life and why it is so often overlooked as “just getting older”.

Symptoms

The JAMA review lists difficulty swallowing and speaking, thirst and bad breath among the main symptoms. A review of xerostomia of various causes describes the core signs as the sensation of a dry mouth, problems eating, and dryness of the lining of the mouth and of the skin. In everyday terms, people describe:

Dry mouth often comes with dry eyes. That combination — gritty, burning, dry eyes plus a dry mouth — is the classic pattern of Sjögren’s syndrome.

How Dry Mouth Is Diagnosed

Questions and examination

Diagnosis starts with a structured interview — one review mentions a short set of questions known as the Fox test, which asks, for example, whether the mouth feels dry at mealtimes, whether swallowing is difficult, and whether liquids are needed to swallow dry food. The full medicine list, including over-the-counter products, is usually the single most revealing part of the history.

On examination, dentists look for signs that the mouth is dry: a mirror that sticks to the cheek, no pool of saliva under the tongue, a dry, shiny or fissured tongue, frothy saliva, decay at the gum line or on the biting edges of teeth, and signs of thrush.

Measuring saliva (sialometry)

Because the feeling of dryness and the actual flow do not always match, the flow can be measured directly. A practice guideline in the Journal of the American Dental Association sets out step-by-step methods for collecting unstimulated whole saliva (the person sits quietly and lets saliva drain into a tube for a set number of minutes) and stimulated whole saliva (collected while chewing a piece of wax or similar). The amount per minute is then compared with expected values. The same authors point out that the main weakness of saliva testing is the lack of a standard collection method, and that as people live longer, salivary hypofunction in older people will become more common.

Looking for the cause

Depending on the picture, further tests may include:

Treatment

Reviews are consistent on one point: for most people, treatment is palliative — it relieves the dryness and protects the teeth, but it does not restore the damaged glands. A 2016 review states plainly that only palliative treatment is available at present. Treatment is usually described in layers.

1. Addressing the cause

The World Workshop review lists substitution or discontinuation of medicines whenever possible as the first management strategy for medicine-induced dry mouth. In practice prescribers sometimes switch to a less drying drug in the same class, lower the dose, or change the timing (for example taking a drying medicine in the morning rather than at night). Treating dehydration, a blocked nose or uncontrolled diabetes also helps where these are the cause.

2. Stimulating the glands that still work

When some gland tissue remains, chewing and taste stimulate it:

3. Replacing moisture

The MASCC/ISOO/ASCO guideline found intermediate-quality evidence supporting topical mucosal lubricants, saliva substitutes and agents that stimulate the salivary reflex. Their effect lasts only as long as they stay in the mouth, so they are used repeatedly through the day and often at the bedside.

4. Prescription medicines that increase saliva (sialagogues)

Pilocarpine and cevimeline are tablets that act like acetylcholine on the salivary glands, pushing them to secrete. They only work if there is residual gland tissue to stimulate — a 1997 review of radiation-induced dry mouth notes that effectiveness requires residual salivary function and that, in patients with residual function, oral pilocarpine increases salivary flow and improves symptoms. The same drugs stimulate sweat glands and other glands, so sweating, a runny nose, flushing and needing to urinate more often are their best-known side effects; they are not used in people with certain eye conditions, uncontrolled asthma or some heart conditions.

5. Protecting the teeth

Because the biggest long-term cost of dry mouth is tooth decay, dental care for people with dry mouth centres on keeping the teeth: more frequent check-ups, careful cleaning between teeth, cutting down on sugary and acidic snacks and drinks between meals, and treating early decay before it spreads. Dental guidelines for high-risk patients, including those with dry mouth, use high-concentration fluoride toothpaste, fluoride varnish or fluoride trays to slow decay; the site’s Fluoride section covers the safety debate and the question of informed consent. Non-fluoride options used in dentistry include calcium-phosphate pastes and xylitol-sweetened gum.

6. Other approaches

Prevention and Daily Measures

Dry mouth cannot always be prevented — a needed medicine or cancer treatment may be unavoidable — but the damage it does to the teeth and mouth can often be limited. Measures that people with dry mouth commonly use include:

Diet also matters in a quieter way: people with a dry mouth tend to reach for soft, sweet foods and drinks that are easy to swallow, which is exactly what drives decay in a mouth with little saliva.

Dry Mouth After Head and Neck Radiation

For people treated for head and neck cancer, dry mouth is often the side effect that lasts longest and affects daily life most. A 1997 review describes the hallmarks of radiation damage as loss (atrophy) of the secretory cells and chronic inflammation of the salivary glands. Unlike medicine-induced dryness, this damage is frequently permanent.

Prevention starts at the planning stage

The most effective protection is technical. The MASCC/ISOO/ASCO guideline found high-quality evidence for tissue-sparing radiation methods — ways of shaping the beam so that it delivers less dose to the salivary glands — and evidence that is weaker or insufficient for other preventive interventions. The 2019 review in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute Monographs identifies intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and its next step, proton therapy, as having the greatest potential for permanently preserving salivary function.

Other preventive options that the guideline says may be offered during radiation include bethanechol (a drug that stimulates the glands) and acupuncture. A 2016 meta-analysis of 6 randomised trials (369 patients on pilocarpine, 367 controls) found that giving pilocarpine during radiation increased unstimulated salivary flow 3 to 6 months later and reduced clinician-rated dryness; patient-reported dryness was not better in the first 3 months but was better at 6 months, and pilocarpine had no effect on stimulated flow. Side effects were described as mild and tolerable.

Acupuncture after radiation

Why some patients recover more flow than others

The amount of saliva that returns depends on how much radiation each gland received and how much living gland tissue remains. Pilocarpine and other stimulants need that remaining tissue to work; where none is left, moisture replacement is the only option — the point made by the 1997 review, which states that saliva substitutes are the only option for patients without residual salivary function.

Teeth after radiation

Radiation-related dry mouth can lead to rapid, widespread decay (sometimes called radiation caries), and jaw bone that has been irradiated heals poorly after extractions. This is why cancer centres usually arrange a full dental assessment, and any necessary extractions, before radiation begins, and close dental follow-up afterwards.

Dry Mouth and Sjögren’s Syndrome

Sjögren’s syndrome is a chronic autoimmune disease in which immune cells infiltrate the glands that make tears and saliva, causing dryness of the eyes and mouth. A 2022 review describes it as a systemic disease: besides dryness, it can involve almost any organ system, and its severity varies greatly from person to person. It is called primary when it occurs alone and secondary when it accompanies another autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus.

A review focused on older adults states that studies have suggested Sjögren’s syndrome underlies approximately 40% of xerostomia in the elderly, and that it remains one of the most underdiagnosed conditions, because its dryness is often blamed on age or medicines, delaying the diagnosis. Over time, the secretory cells in affected glands are replaced by scar tissue (fibrosis), leaving glands that no longer work.

Signs that point towards Sjögren’s rather than a simple medicine effect include dry eyes as well as a dry mouth, swelling of the parotid glands in front of the ears, joint pain, fatigue, and dryness elsewhere (skin, nose, vagina).

Treatment of the dryness follows the same layers described above. The EULAR 2019 recommendations for Sjögren’s cover topical oral therapies (saliva substitutes), ocular therapies, the oral muscarinic agonists pilocarpine and cevimeline, and — for disease beyond the glands — drugs that act on the immune system. The task force rated the levels of evidence as mostly modest.

People with Sjögren’s have a higher risk of lymphoma (a cancer of the lymph glands) than the general population. A persistent, firm, one-sided swelling of a salivary gland is one of the signs specialists watch for.

Complications

Warning Signs and Urgent Signs

Signs that point to a dry mouth worth investigating

Signs that are urgent

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Key Research Papers

  1. Stoopler ET, Villa A, Bindakhil M, Díaz DLO, Sollecito TP. Common Oral Conditions: A Review. JAMA. 2024;331(12):1045-1054. PubMed PMID: 38530258
  2. Tanasiewicz M, Hildebrandt T, Obersztyn I. Xerostomia of Various Etiologies: A Review of the Literature. Adv Clin Exp Med. 2016;25(1):199-206. PubMed PMID: 26935515
  3. Guggenheimer J, Moore PA. Xerostomia: etiology, recognition and treatment. J Am Dent Assoc. 2003;134(1):61-9. PubMed PMID: 12555958
  4. Wolff A, Joshi RK, Ekström J, Aframian D, Pedersen AM, Proctor G, et al. A Guide to Medications Inducing Salivary Gland Dysfunction, Xerostomia, and Subjective Sialorrhea: A Systematic Review Sponsored by the World Workshop on Oral Medicine VI. Drugs R D. 2017;17(1):1-28. PubMed PMID: 27853957
  5. Watanapokasin N, Rawangban W, Tangjaturonrasme N. As-Needed Pilocarpine for Radiation-Induced Xerostomia in Head and Neck Cancers. Laryngoscope. 2024;134(11):4542-4548. PubMed PMID: 38813852
  6. Dipalma G, Inchingolo F, Patano A, Guglielmo M, Palumbo I, Campanelli M, et al. Dental erosion and the role of saliva: a systematic review. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2023;27(21):10651-10660. PubMed PMID: 37975390
  7. Navazesh M, Kumar SK. Measuring salivary flow: challenges and opportunities. J Am Dent Assoc. 2008;139 Suppl:35S-40S. PubMed PMID: 18460678
  8. Mercadante V, Jensen SB, Smith DK, Bohlke K, Bauman J, Brennan MT, et al. Salivary Gland Hypofunction and/or Xerostomia Induced by Nonsurgical Cancer Therapies: ISOO/MASCC/ASCO Guideline. J Clin Oncol. 2021;39(25):2825-2843. PubMed PMID: 34283635
  9. Jensen SB, Vissink A, Limesand KH, Reyland ME. Salivary Gland Hypofunction and Xerostomia in Head and Neck Radiation Patients. J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 2019;2019(53):lgz016. PubMed PMID: 31425600
  10. Guchelaar HJ, Vermes A, Meerwaldt JH. Radiation-induced xerostomia: pathophysiology, clinical course and supportive treatment. Support Care Cancer. 1997;5(4):281-8. PubMed PMID: 9257424
  11. Yang WF, Liao GQ, Hakim SG, Ouyang DQ, Ringash J, Su YX. Is Pilocarpine Effective in Preventing Radiation-Induced Xerostomia? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2016;94(3):503-11. PubMed PMID: 26867879
  12. Cohen L, Danhauer SC, Garcia MK, Dressler EV, Rosenthal DI, Chambers MS, et al. Acupuncture for Chronic Radiation-Induced Xerostomia in Head and Neck Cancer: A Multicenter Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(5):e2410421. PubMed PMID: 38739392
  13. Ni X, Tian T, Chen D, Liu L, Li X, Li F, et al. Acupuncture for Radiation-Induced Xerostomia in Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Integr Cancer Ther. 2020;19:1534735420980825. PubMed PMID: 33307864
  14. Al-Hashimi I. Xerostomia secondary to Sjögren’s syndrome in the elderly: recognition and management. Drugs Aging. 2005;22(11):887-99. PubMed PMID: 16323968
  15. Ramos-Casals M, Brito-Zerón P, Bombardieri S, Bootsma H, De Vita S, Dörner T, et al. EULAR recommendations for the management of Sjögren’s syndrome with topical and systemic therapies. Ann Rheum Dis. 2020;79(1):3-18. PubMed PMID: 31672775
  16. Tanaka A, Kellesarian SV, Arany S. Xerostomia and patients’ satisfaction with removable denture performance: systematic review. Quintessence Int. 2021;52(1):46-55. PubMed PMID: 33118000

PubMed Topic Searches

  1. PubMed: medication-induced xerostomia
  2. PubMed: treatment of radiation-induced xerostomia
  3. PubMed: xerostomia management in Sjögren’s syndrome
  4. PubMed: saliva substitutes for xerostomia
  5. PubMed: hyposalivation and dental caries

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Connections

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