Hey Friends!
As you can imagine, I am always hearing about new dental products that are touted as the latest and greatest for solving common dental problems. Usually, those products don't live up to the hype. But, from time to time, a new dental product comes across my desk that is actually worthwhile. So, I thought I'd share a product that my patients, who experience dry mouth, are really liking! It's called XyliMelts. These "discs" are coated with Xylitol that adhere to your gums and help relieve the symptoms of dry mouth.
Dry mouth can be caused by a variety of things from medications to systemic health conditions. Ongoing dry mouth is a concern because it makes you more susceptible to dental decay and mouth sores. Your mouth is designed to stay moist with your saliva. But if the production of saliva is impaired, for whatever reason, food particles will not be flushed away from the nooks and crannies of your mouth and naturally occurring bacteria will not be neutralized by your saliva. This creates the perfect environment for the development of dental decay.
XyliMelts help by coating, moisturizing and lubricating the mouth. It can also cause an increase in your natural saliva flow. What I like about Xylimetls is that it contains Xylitol. Xylitol is a naturally occurring, non-fermentable sugar. This means that bacteria can't grow in it's presence and therefore, xylitol acts as a natural cavity fighter.
So, how do you use these? It's simple, really. You place a disc at the gum line on the outside of a molar (upper or lower) and hold it there for 10 seconds so the disc can adhere to the gums. That's it! The disc disolves slowly over time and you can replace the discs as needed to keep your mouth moist.
Many patients prefer to use them while they are sleeping to keep there mouth the moist over night. But many patients use them during the day as well.
Xylimelts can be found at CVS, RiteAid, Walgreen and even on Amazon (click here to order from Amazon).
If dry mouth continues to be a problem, let us know. You never know what new products are available to help!