The side effects of various medicines can have a telling influence on the activities of your salivary glands and could be a leading cause of your common issues. Meanwhile, most patients are now self-medicating in a wide range of health conditions. Lifestyle changes may also extend to dehydrating yourself by spending more time wrapped up in the warm, especially over the colder months. Alcohol consumption is often worsened by the heightened use of tobacco. Alcohol consumption has increased for a lot of people since the start of the pandemic, which has contributed to the growing presence of dry mouth cases. Dry mouth is one of the most common, especially if lifestyle alterations have been coupled with modifications to your diet and nutritional habits.Īlcohol is a diuretic, which will lead to dehydration and dry mouth. If your lifestyle has changed dramatically since the pandemic, it’s likely that biological impacts will have occurred. Dietary and lifestyle changesīoredom, a loss of routine, and restricted possibilities are a common theme at this immensely difficult time. Moreover, dehydration may harm your immune systems, increasing the threat of COVID-19. Consequently, then, saliva production levels may fall as a result. When this process is repeated for a few days, the impact on your hydration levels can be vast. Likewise, you may be hesitant to carry a bottle in public areas as the virus can stay on surfaces all day long.Įven patients that have largely stayed indoors may find that dehydration has increased as a sedentary lifestyle can make it easier to ignore your thirst. The average adult can use the 8×8 rule (eight 8oz glasses per day), although contributing factors such as climate and physical activity can impact this.ĬOVID-19 makes it significantly harder to stay hydrated throughout the day due to wearing Personal Protective Equipment throughout the day, potentially for several hours at a time. Dry mouth is naturally one of the most noticeable changes. The human body needs regular hydration, and even a minor drop in hydration levels can severely impact your physical and mental wellbeing. If the situations caused by the pandemic are making you stressed or anxious, saliva production and regulation may undergo noticeable changes, thus leading to xerostomia. Worse still, it is virtually impossible to trick your body into feeling unstressed. Loneliness is further exacerbated by the stress of job insecurity, along with the continued fears of getting the disease. Experts at The American Psychological Association (APA) have pinpointed the impacts of social detachment and isolation during this time as one of the pandemic’s biggest problems. Right now, our collective mental health is under greater strain than ever before thanks to COVID-19. Meanwhile, depression and other stress-inducing mental health conditions are a huge threat to the activity of the salivary glands. This is partly due to the fact that the central nervous system (CNS) is responsible for regulating the salivary reflexes. The reasons behind the lack of saliva production can be linked to many issues, but the most common are Īnxiety is the most common health issue linked to hypersalivation, impacting the composition and flow of saliva production. Why is dry mouth more common during COVID-19? When you have dry mouth, finding a solution is vital.ĭue to COVID-19, it’s a challenge that even more people are faced with. It can increase the risk of tooth decay and oral viruses while also making it harder to chew, swallow, and talk. The plethora of underlying health conditions include Sjögren’s syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, HIV, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, Hepatitis C, Lymphoma, hypertension, and various mental health conditions ranging from anxiety to depression.ĭry mouth caused by a lack of saliva production by the salivary glands can impact the oral cavity as well as your general quality of life. Given its nature, figures on how many people have ongoing dry mouth range from anywhere between 1% and 65%. While it is a condition that affects almost everyone from time to time, persistent dry mouth can be immensely damaging to a person’s overall oral health. In either case, it is a problem that is caused by a lack of saliva production in the salivary glands. What causes dry mouth?ĭry mouth is an oral health condition that can be broken into two distinct types: xerostomia relates to a patient’s perception of dry mouth while hyposalivation is a pathological issue defined by reduced saliva flow. Stephen Brown and The Perio Group team have witnessed a noticeable increase in cases of dry mouth since safely reopening the dental practice. The increased presence of dry mouth has become one of the major issues facing patients from all backgrounds. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented new challenges in all aspects of our lives, and oral health isn’t any different.
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