Natural Techniques For Dry Mouth Relief


Tongue Stretch
The technique: Stick out your tongue as far as you can for 2-3 seconds. Repeat this process at least six times. Then, swish your tongue all around the inside of your mouth - all over your teeth, gums, sides and bottom of your mouth. As an alternative, when sticking out your tongue, open your mouth as wide as possible. That's all there is to it!
Frank's Comments: This simple technique can be pretty effective, especially when combined with the herbs mentioned elsewhere on this site. If your mouth is really dry, you will probably find that either it's simply not effective enough, or the saliva that's created tends to taste a little "dry" and not very refreshing or soothing. Still, using this technique to stimulate your saliva glands fits into the "use it or lose it" theory.
Your Comments: None received as of yet.

Teeth Click
The Technique: This one is even more simple than the one above. Simply click your teeth together about 25 times. Then, swish your mouth with your tongue as described above.
Frank's Comments: As I've been writing this section, I've been doing both techniques in combination with each other, and I happily have what I consider a fair amount of saliva. However, paradoxically, my mouth feels dry - like the saliva consist of 50% flour - more pasty than refreshing. I really need a glass of water, but that will flush the saliva away, and I'll be back where I started. On the other hand, the long term effects of such stimulation might be very beneficial.
Your Comments: None received as of yet.
Special Note: Do you grind your teeth at night? Perhaps you are subconsciously using a variation of the above techniques to try to create saliva.

Acupuncture
The Technique: According to some experts, acupuncture may be effective in relieving dry mouth symptoms. If you are able to stimulate saliva by using the techniques listed above or with any of the herbs from our herbal section, your chances of success may be pretty good.
Frank's Comments: Having cancer isn't cheap, so I'll have to wait to experiment with acupuncture. However, if and when I decide to try it, I think I'll pretty much insist that the acupuncturist have some record of success in treating dry mouth.
Your Comments: None received as of yet.

Acupressure
The Technique: If acupuncture has some chance of success, acupressure might certainly be worth a try. Unfortunately, we have yet to find any information about where the appropriate pressure points would be.
Frank's Comments: Hopefully someone out there can provide us with some suggestions.
Your Comments: None received as of yet.

Visualization
The Technique: Get yourself comfortable and relaxed. (We suggest that you look into deep relaxation techniques.) Then, simply picture some food or herb that has successfully stimulated saliva for you now or in the past. Picture chewing or sucking on that food, perhaps rolling it around in your mouth. Now, picture that food or herb producing copious amounts of saliva. This technique may work best for you if you picture the same food all of the time and you use the name of the food as a "trigger word." Eventually, you may be able to trigger some saliva production by simply thinking the word.
Frank's Comments: While I haven't come close to devoting enough time to visualization to fully test it out, there are times where with little effort I can increase saliva flow by simply picturing it happening. The trick is to train your mind to focus on producing saliva instead of constantly evaluating how well the visualization is working.
Your Comments: None received as of yet.

Herbal Remedies For Dry Mouth

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