"Does your food taste the same as you remember it as a kid. Are you taking medicines as you get older. And how are your stress levels???? All these factors may be ruining your saliva. Now is the time to take charge and get that great feeling back in your mouth."
Are Your Saliva Glands Healthy - Try This Quick Test
Sit still and spit into a small cup for 1 minute. This is called "resting saliva". You should make at least a quarter of a ml in that minute. Then chew on a rubber band for another minute and collect that saliva. This is called "functional saliva". Compare the two saliva amounts. Your functional saliva (second amount) should be at least four times your resting saliva.
1. What You Should Do If You Make Enough Saliva
If you are producing sufficient saliva, then it is important to protect the saliva glands from getting worse. You need to pay attention to your lifestyle choices, and also we would recommend adding an antioxidant called EGCG to your diet. This antioxidant has been shown in studies to protect and help stimulate saliva glands. More on this a bit later.....
a): Lifestyle choices that can affect saliva production and saliva gland health are fairly obvious. But include:
- Limiting or avoiding Alcohol
- Stopping all Smoking
- Limiting or stopping Recreational drugs
- Seeing if you can change some of your prescription medication
A lot of medications will affect saliva volumes. In fact most of the main prescription groups affect it. (Blood Pressure, Allergy medicine, Anxiety Medication etc). In fact a study in 2002 showed that a person aged over 50yrs has a 50% increase risk of dry mouth due to medicines.
b): Antioxidant (EGCG) Addition to your daily diet. This particular antioxidant is only available in a chewing gum at the moment. But i has amazing properties. EGCG has been shown to:
- Eliminate Free Radicals from the body which can damage cells
- Protect Healthy Cells by regulating their growth & differentiation
There are two studies you can read if you want more in depth on these points. They are listed at the bottom of this page.
DryGuard & MighTeaFlow Chewing Gum. This is a chewing gum developed by Dr Stephen Hsu at Georgia Regents University in USA. This gum contains Green Tea and the antioxidants needed for good saliva health. In fact Dr Hsu holds the patent to manufacturing this gum. It is different to just chewing gum, and in our opinion there is no substitute for it. It is sold as a box of 40pieces and you would chew anything from 3 or 4 pieces a day after every meal or any event that has stressed the saliva gland function (exercise, coffee, alcohol, medication, smoking etc).
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| Testimonial: "I have been using this gum since my dry mouth after the radiation treatment for my throat tumour. I have really enjoyed the gum as it provides a good and controlled level of saliva production, without the excessive sweetness that some gums have. I had my first cavity ever right after my radiation ended. Now I have been paying attention to my dental hygiene more, including chewing on your gum and so far no more cavities or issues in the mouth during my last 2 quarterly visits to the dentist. What I like best about this gum is that it produces a sense of cleanliness that lasts for hours and at the same time your mouth stays nicely hydrated." |
2. What You Should Do If You DO NOT Make Enough Saliva
There is an extra step you can do if you do not make enough saliva. Of course you still need to implement all the lifestyle avoidance steps given above. And you need to be way more strict. Lack of saliva can quickly and significantly damage your teeth and gums (within 6months in some cases).
c): GC Dry Mouth Gel. This gel is a clear neutral pH gel that provides oral comfort and lubrication to the mouth. It also helps to stimulate saliva. GC Dry Mouth Gel can form a protective coating on the gums and cheeks providing up to 4 hours of relief from dry mouth. It is recommended to apply the Dry Mouth Gel at night before sleep.
Important information. Please avoid all commercial mouthwash, even if they are for dry mouth, as most contain acid and will increase tooth sensitivity and cause long term issues. Repeat the test often. As using the DryGuard Gum with EGCG has been shown to significantly help saliva volume over time. In fact one study showed a 400% increase in saliva flow.
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| Testimonial: "I have Sjogren’s Syndrome and this gum works well to get my salivary glands working again. I can’t drop my medication, but I can extend the length of time between meds. It does have a hard outer shell, which I didn’t expect, but it isn’t bad. This would be good to bring to a hospital if you suffer dry mouth after surgery too." |
I hope this information has helped you.
At present time these products (DryGuard Gum and Dry Mouth Gel) are the best on the market in our opinion. Please treat saliva function as an important issue, as your mouth and teeth can quickly be damaged if you disregard your signs and symptoms. This video below shows Dr Stephen Hsu talking about the trial recently carried out at Georgia Regents University, and the fantastic results they achieved. Please watch it and if you have any questions feel free to ask us.
Watch this video of Dr Hsu and Dr De Rossi discussing Dry Mouth, its affects on your mouth and the MighTeaFlow Green Tea Antioxidant discovery.
Some Information on BreezeCare Oral Health Clinic
- Remember everything we use and recommend we have tested in the laboratories, and then passed for safety regulations so that we know we are helping your oral health and tackling your condition at the same time.
- We manufacture in small volumes to ensure high quality. What we offer is specific products for dry mouth that we know work. And we are so confidant in what we do that you are welcome to come to our clinic in Edgecliff, Sydney and have a free consultation if you are not 100% satisfied.
- And let us be honest, we cannot fix everyone by simply selling products over the Internet. Sometimes you need that "one on one" consult to truly understand the individual problem.
But what I can say is that we have been doing this since 1981, and we get results. We are proud of what we do and what we offer. Now it is up to you to try our protocol and see how it works for you. Please give us feedback, and visit us if you need more help.
Studies We Based Our Protocol On
1. Hsu, S. (2001) Green Tea & Oral Cancer. The Journal of Georgia Dental Association. 31: 32‐33
2. Hsu S., Lewis JE., Borke JL., Singh B., Dickinson DP, Caughman GB., Athar M., Drake L., Aiken AC.,Huynh CT., Das B., Osaki T., and Schuster GS. (2001) Chemopreventive Effects of Green Tea Polyphenols Correlate with Reversible Induction of p57 Expression. Anticancer Research. 21: 3743-.‐3748.
