Xerostomia is dry mouth, and there are many causes of the condition, including...

1. Sjogren's syndrome, which is an immunological disease of salivary or secretory gland tissue

2. Sjogren's disease of salivary gland tissue secondary to other immunoligical based disease (like rheumatoid arthritis, or SLE)

3. Radiation induced salivary gland damage, leading to dry mouth

4. Certain drugs, especially muscarinic receptor blocking drugs

Management is essentially three fold,

1. To find out the cause of the dry mouth

Click here to find out about salivary gland biopsy

2. To prevent secondary effects of dry mouth, like increased rates of gum disease, dental caries, and denture irritation of mucosa, and

3. To either stimulate residual salivary function, or to replace saliva with salivary analogue.

Treatment of dry mouth can be very frustrating, but the mainstay of therapy is the following...

1. Regular visits to a dentist to check against gum and dental disease caused by dry mouth. This may include flouride mouth washes

2. A small gland biopsy with a surgeon to confirm or exclude Sjogren's syndrome, along with some baseline blood tests, particularly for auto-antigens or antibodies, and a general medical screening, particularly of other drugs you may be taking, and

3.Pilocarpine to help stimulate residual salivary gland function

Click here to find out what researches know about xerostomia.

Paper 1. Xerostomia: a common adverse effect of drugs and radiation (Australian Prescriber 2006, 29: 97-8). Ian N Oliver, Chief Executive Officer, The Cancer Council Australia, Sydney

Paper 2. Pharmacotherapy of Xerostomia in Primary Sjogren's Syndrome. Clinical studies of three main treatment approaches.

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