Dry Mouth Can Cause Cavities
By Janice Billingsley - HealthScoutNews Reporter
SUNDAY, Oct. 28, 2001 (HealthScoutNews) -- Dry mouth, an increasingly
common condition for adults
taking medications, undergoing chemotherapy or suffering from
auto-immune diseases, can be more
than just uncomfortable. It heightens the risk of cavities, say
dentists.
And one way of reducing cavities can be taken from a chapter to prevent
tooth decay in children --
using dental sealants to protect teeth.
"Sealants have been around for years and were geared to children as a
way to prevent cavities by
keeping germs and acids from attaching to the tops of back teeth," says
Dr. Barbara A. Rich, a Cherry
Hill, N.J., dentist. "It should be a common procedure in dental offices
to prevent dental disease [in
adults with dry mouth]."
Rich says that dry mouth, when the mouth glands don't produce enough
saliva, is increasingly common
among older adults who are taking drugs, as well as those who are
undergoing chemotherapy, or who
are suffering from diseases like PARKINSON'S.
According to the Academy of General Dentistry, studies show that up to
400 medications,
prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs can contribute to symptoms
associated with dry mouth. The
most common troublemakers are anti-depressants, painkillers,
tranquilizers, diuretics, and
antihistamines. The result is that a lot of people can suffer from this
disorder.
"It could be as much as a third of the population that suffers from dry
mouth," Rich says.
Without enough saliva in your mouth to cleanse it, plaque adheres more
readily to the teeth and gums
and there is an increased incidence of cavities, Rich says.
The sealants, applied in liquid or gel form, adhere to the tops of the
teeth and protect the grooves in the
teeth from germs and acids that could collect there.
However, the procedure does not offer complete protection. "It prevents
cavities on the tops of teeth,
the biting surface, but not in between," Rich says.
Also, many older people no longer have the pits and grooves in the tops
of the teeth.
"Some people get through life with no cavities, but many have had
fillings and the grooves were
smoothed out then," says Minnesota dentist Dr. Kimberly Harms. "Also,
most of their decay is on root
surfaces, near the gumline, and between the teeth, and the sealants
only take care of the top of the
teeth."
For those people, she emphasizes dental hygiene.
"The cavities can form very quickly [without enough saliva], and you
need to keep the plaque away. So
I recommend meticulous oral hygiene -- brushing at least twice a day
with fluoridated toothpaste, and
floss, floss, floss," says Harms, who is also a consumer advisor for
the American Dental Association.
"But that being said, sealants are a wonderful thing for treatment of
dry mouth if you have exposed
grooves," she says.
What To Do
If you have started a new medication and find that your mouth is drier,
you should visit your dentist,
says Rich, because cavities can develop quickly without enough saliva.
Other suggestions she makes for reducing the effects of dry mouth:
Avoid caffeine, alcohol and overly
salty foods, which dry out the mouth; brush and floss regularly; and
chew sugarless gum, which can
triple the amount of saliva in your mouth.
For more information about dry mouth, you can visit The Academy of
General Dentistry or the
National Institutes of Health.
Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! Inc.
Copyright © 2000 Healthscout.com
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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