Author: Lizzie Smith – blog last updated on Saturday 3rd February 2024
Whatever the cause of your dry mouth complaints, a lack of saliva causes discomfort with everyday activities such as talking, swallowing and eating. You may also feel thirsty, even though that isn’t actually the case. A dry mouth can even wake you up during the night, which is at the expense of a good night’s sleep. If that isn’t enough, a dry mouth is also bad for your teeth.
To keep your mouth hydrated and limit damage to your teeth, it’s wise to choose your oral care products carefully. In this article, we’ll look at the best toothpaste and mouthwash for dry mouth complaints.
Possible causes of dry mouth
Dry mouth (xerostomia) is caused by a lack of saliva, and there are several possible causes for this. You can get a dry mouth from the harmful ingredients in oral care products, hormone fluctuations or sleeping with your mouth open. But also more serious causes, such as the side effects of medication and severe medical treatments like radiotherapy. Psychological conditions such as anxiety and stress can also cause dry mouth complaints.
It’s often thought the mouth becomes drier as we age, but it’s usually the increasing amount of medication people take as they age. The chance that one or more medications have a dry mouth as a side effect increases.
Dry mouth complaints and the consequences for your teeth
Besides an uncomfortable or even extremely irritating feeling, mouth dryness has a very negative effect on your oral health. The oxygen-rich saliva naturally protects against harmful oral bacteria. Because they’re anaerobic (meaning they thrive in an oxygen-poor environment) saliva prevents their proliferation.
If, for whatever reason, you have less saliva in your mouth, there’s naturally less oxygen, which makes the living environment more favourable for the bacteria. Saliva also neutralises the acidity in the mouth. A dry mouth is more acidic, which means minerals from food are less well absorbed into the tooth enamel. Dry mouth can cause problems in various ways – more plaque, which increases the risk of bad breath, caries (cavities) and gum infections. The disturbed balance of the oral flora can also lead to a fungal infection (candida albicans).
Harmful ingredients in toothpaste and mouthwash
You should always look carefully at the ingredients of your toothpaste and mouthwash. And this is even more important if you suffer from a dry mouth.
It’s better to avoid ingredients such as alcohol, SLS (sodium lauryl sulphate), chlorhexidine and triclosan. Drying, acidifying and irritating ingredients disrupt the balance of the oral flora, which is already affected by the lack of saliva. These substances worsen dry mouth complaints and irritations of the oral mucosa.
Therefore, choose mouth-friendly toothpaste and mouthwash. They effectively tackle harmful bacteria but leave the rest of the oral flora alone. They contain moisturising and soothing ingredients but also stimulate the salivary glands to produce more.
The top 5 best toothpastes and mouthwashes for dry mouth complaints:
1. OraRelieve
The OraRelieve brand has been specially developed for people with dry mouth complaints. Natural and milk enzymes take over the functions of the missing saliva. This combats harmful bacteria in a mouth-friendly manner and softens and hydrates dry and irritated mucous membranes. The natural sweetener xylitol inhibits plaque formation and stimulates the salivary glands with its characteristic cool, fresh taste.
OraRelieve toothpaste contains fluoride to protect teeth against caries (cavities). A mouthwash cleans the teeth and provides additional care for the oral tissues. OraRelieve mouthwash is, therefore, an excellent option for dry mouth complaints.
For extra hydration and care, we recommend the OraRelieve Dry Mouth Package. In addition to toothpaste and mouthwash, the package contains a mouth spray and mouth gel. This allows you to hydrate your mouth extra during the day between brushings. All products contain the same nourishing, mouth-friendly formula.
2. RyttPro
Both RyttPro Toothpaste and RyttPro Mouthwash contain the powerful yet mild formula OZ-3X. This is based on active oxygen, in this case stabilised chlorine dioxide, combined with cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) and zinc – an extraordinarily effective yet mouth-friendly formula to combat harmful bacteria without disrupting the balance of the oral flora.
Toothpaste and mouthwash clean your teeth, care for your gums and stabilise the acidity in the mouth. They don’t contain harmful chemicals such as phthalates, parabens, flavours or dyes. The toothpaste contains fluoride to strengthen your tooth enamel.
With the RyttPro Fresh Breath Kit, you get a complete package. In addition to the toothpaste and mouthwash, this package contains RyttPro tongue foam, the RyttPro tongue cleaner and RyttPro Mouth Spray. These products, based on the same effective formula Oz-3X, are helpful in combatting dry mouth complaints, cleaning your teeth and freshening your breath.
3. JuliBrite
JuliBrite also works based on active oxygen and zinc, but slightly differently. The oxygen is generated by honey. Furthermore, the natural enzyme hyaluronan has been added.
This inhibits dental plaque just as well as chlorhexidine but without any nasty consequences for the oral flora, meaning you can use these products indefinitely.
JuliBrite Toothpaste also uses the sweetener xylitol to care for your teeth. It ensures bacteria don’t readily adhere to your tooth enamel, which slows down plaque formation. It lowers the acidity in the mouth and has the characteristic cool, fresh taste. This stimulates the salivary glands, which is an advantage against dry mouth complaints.
The same mild and caring formula is in JuliBrite Mouthwash, the ideal mouthwash for a dry mouth.
For an even more intensive but gentle cleaning of your oral cavity, consider the JuliBrite Tongue Clean Kit. It contains a special tongue gel based on the same mouth-friendly formula and the handy double-sided JuliBrite Tongue Cleaner.
4. UK Organics
UK Organics has a simple and exceptionally pure vegan formula. Salt cleans the teeth and mouth, whilst organic coconut oil inhibits plaque and makes teeth smoother and whiter naturally. Natural minerals protect your teeth against caries (cavities). UK Organics toothpaste is available in different variants, and the Orange variant is specially intended for dry mouth complaints. The refreshing, natural orange flavour stimulates the salivary glands.
The accompanying UK Organics Mouth Oil is based on the Ayurvedic cleansing practice of “oil pulling”. If you suffer from dry mouth complaints, you can keep the oil in your mouth a little longer to take full advantage of its soothing and moisturising effect.
The UK Organics Orange Dry Mouth Package contains toothpaste and mouth oil.
UK Organics products are environmentally friendly like no other. They’re packaged in fully recyclable materials and not plastic.
Finally
Very different factors can cause dry mouth. These include consuming too much coffee and alcohol, oral care products containing the wrong ingredients, side effects of medication, symptoms of underlying disease or severe medical treatments such as radiation.
Read more about the possible causes of dry mouth complaints here.
With the toothpastes mentioned above, mouthwashes and dry mouth packs, you can remedy or at least alleviate dry mouth complaints. In addition, you must identify the cause. You should consult your doctor if there’s no identifiable cause for your dry mouth.
In some cases, you can’t remove the causes of dry mouth. If that’s the case, you can at least limit the damage to your teeth caused by a lack of saliva by using the abovementioned products. This will also ensure a more pleasant and smooth mouthfeel, better breathing quality and better oral health.
Sources
British Dental Nurses‘ Journal: Diagnosing and managing dry mouth
British Dental Journal: Helping to alleviate the stress of dry mouth