It’s very important to have enough saliva in your mouth if you wear dentures. It’s necessary for the suction that hold dentures in place and to prevent abrasions and sores. But a number of situations and conditions can cause you to have less saliva than you need, including:

 

• Medications. The most common cause of dry mouth, this can include one or more of the over 500 medications that list dry mouth as a side effect. This includes some blood pressure medicines and antidepressants as well as common antihistamines and decongestants.
• Illnesses. If the medications you take aren’t causing your dry mouth, an underlying illness may be. Everything from Sjogrens’s Syndrome to chronic diarrhea and salivary gland tumors can cause reduce saliva production, but these conditions are certainly not the first thing to look for if you have dry mouth.
• Habits. Breathing through your mouth instead of through your nose or not drinking enough water are common causes. This leads to dehydration, and one of the first symptoms of dehydration is a dry mouth.
• Radiation. If you’re taking radiation treatments for cancer, reduced function of the salivary glands may be a side effect.
• Aging. There is less saliva production as people age in many cases, so a dry mouth is more common in older people than in younger people.

 

No matter your age and no matter whether these conditions are present or not, it’s important to clear up the cause of dry mouth if you want your dentures to fit well and perform comfortably.

When a solution to the dry mouth condition isn’t available, you can avoid the negative impact this causes on your dentures by having dental implants installed that can provide stability and increased comfort when wearing your dentures. These small implants aren’t like implants of a few years ago and can be a great solution to your denture problems when your dry mouth can’t be resolved, and avoid other issues (see http://besttoothpaste.net/fluoride-free/lower-denture-ordeal/)