Dry Mouth Needs a New Solution

Your patients often complain about xerostomia (they don’t use that word) – what do you say? Have you been happy with results from OTC mouth moisturizer products? The same ones dentists have been recommending for decades?

The reasons why people suffer from xerostomia become more numerous every day. We’ve long known about the mouth-drying effects of some medications like antihistamines. There are over one thousand drugs that create problems and the list grows every day, along with diseases, radiation therapy, some foods, even anxiety and simply being dehydrated.

In our field, the major culprit is mouth breathing. When we apply PAP or oral appliance therapy, dry air can pass through the mouth and create enough discomfort to interfere with therapy. Hence, recommendations for water by the bed, lozenges, rinses, and sprays applied before sleep. None of which work all that well, or for very long. Your patient is frustrated and blames the device that critically supports their airway. They don’t feel the apnea, but they sure feel that dry tongue!

When patients undergo invasive, serious medical care such as cancer therapy, prescription solutions to xerostomia are often applied. To create a solution and gain FDA approval specifically for medically-induced xerostomia, formulations must meet more stringent criteria than an OTC rinse. The effect must be robust and persistent, lasting several hours even in awake patients.

Thinking about our sleep patients, if we prescribe a medical-grade xerostomia therapy for our relatively simple sleep related breathing disorder patients, it will improve their quality of life and enhance commitment to therapy. How many patients do dentists see who complain about PAP therapy being unacceptable because of dry mouth? If their jaw configuration doesn’t allow for full lip closure with a mandibular advancement device, what do you do? Recommend lip tape or SomnoSeal? Good solutions, but what if they don’t want or cannot use those methods?

Aquoral Protective Oral Spray is a medical-grade xerostomia solution that has many applications for our dental practices. Its patented, clinically proven, lipid-based formula provides a protective coating of the oral mucosa, offering relief for as long as 6 hours and helping to aid our prevention efforts – xerostomia creates perfect conditions for rampant caries, especially root caries.

As a prescription item, Aquoral is available by mail-order pharmacy, just like most medications these days, and the company has a program for stocking it in the professional office as well. Patients can use HSA benefits to help with the cost, not something an OTC product is eligible for.

Don’t continue to recommend products that fail to solve problems. Relief of suffering from dry mouth, whatever the reason, goes a long way to improving the quality of life your patients will feel.