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Learn more about our commitment to oral health education. Excessive Saliva? Top Articles. How to Treat Excessive Saliva Treatment for excessive saliva depends on your overall health and other symptoms that you may be having. Was this article helpful?
Like Neutral. You also might like. Coupons Shop Now Our Mission. At first you may be prescribed only low doses of medication. Or your doctor may suggest you delay taking medication until symptoms increase. Accept Decline. Motor symptoms Motor symptoms are those that are related to movement, such as tremor, freezing and rigidity.
Eating, swallowing problems and saliva control. The main risks associated with swallowing problems are: Choking or asphyxiation: When food blocks the airway, preventing breathing. Also, when food or liquid enter the airway below the level of the vocal cords. Aspiration pneumonia : When food or liquid enter the lungs, this may cause a lung infection.
Increased secretion: As a reaction to food or liquid entering the lungs. Dehydration : Lack of fluids can lead to problems such as constipation. Difficulties in swallowing medications. Anxiety and a decrease in quality of life. The first stage is the oral phase: food is chewed and mixed with saliva to form a soft ball called bolus.
The tongue then pushes the bolus to the back of the mouth, triggering the swallow reflex. The second stage is the pharyngeal phase: it is the involuntary closure of the larynx by the epiglottis and vocal cords, which temporarily inhibites breathing. These actions prevent food from going 'down the wrong pipe' into the trachea windpipe.
The third stage is the esophageal phase: the bolus moves into the esophagus, the muscular tube that contracts to push the bolus into the stomach. Warning signs to look out for include: hesitation in swallowing food getting stuck in the throat or left in the mouth after swallowing choking a repeated need to swallow in order to clear food swallowed food backs up and enters the nose difficulty chewing regurgitation of food coughing during or after swallowing frequent throat clearing, a hoarse voice or sore throat change in voice quality and a gurgled voice after swallowing pain in the throat or chest reflux or heartburn a need to sip water often to swallow food taking a long time to finish a meal, or giving up part way through loss of appetite or refusal to eat unexplained weight loss dehydration recurring chest infections aspiration pneumonia or upper respiratory infection drooling increased secretions difficulties swallowing medications.
Diagnostic tests If eating and swallowing difficulties persist, your doctor may refer you for a clinical swallowing evaluation performed by a speech and language therapist SLT , also known as a speech and language pathologist SLP in some countries. Videofluoroscopy is a radiographic procedure that provides objective information on the swallowing process from the time food or liquid is taken into the mouth until it reaches the stomach.
Food or liquid containing barium is given in different consistencies. The barium allows progress through the mouth, pharynx and oesophagus to be video recorded and observed. Therapy techniques and compensatory postures can also be tried out during the assessment and their effectiveness can be evaluated. Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing FEES assesses the swallowing function in the pharynx the part of the throat that lies between the mouth and the larynx or voice-box.
A fiberoptic laryngoscope is passed through the nose to view the pharynx, larynx and surrounding structures when food and liquid are swallowed.
Drooling We all produce about one litre of saliva each day, which we swallow automatically, but in Parkinson's, this mechanism can be disrupted. Swallow saliva often and make a conscious effort to do so before eating. Make strong swallows during the day to exercise the swallowing muscles and to get rid of saliva. Keep your head up so that saliva flows to the back of your throat to make swallowing easier.
If you have good control of your mouth structures chew gum or a suck on a sweet as this reminds you to swallow. You may find the following suggestions useful: Try to sit upright. Keep your head up so that saliva flows to the back of your throat where it can be swallowed. Make a conscious effort to swallow saliva often. Using a special badge or button or brooch that bleeps discretely to remind you to swallow may help with this.
Avoid sugary foods, as these encourage saliva to develop. If you suffer from dry mouth and your swallowing reflex is good, suck on sweets, ice chips or chew gum to encourage saliva production. Clean teeth and mouth regularly, particularly after meals, to guard against infections that can result from stale saliva.
Lip seal exercises These simple exercises can help to improve lip seal. Close your lips as tightly as you can. Hold a wide smile. Hold your lips as if you are going to kiss someone or blow a whistle. Hold your lips together as if smoking a pipe. Try sitting for five minutes with a lolly stick or pen held between your lips and swallow every 30 seconds. Strongly swallow your saliva throughout the day. Tongue and jaw exercises Put the blade of your tongue between your teeth, press your lips really hard while at the same time trying to pull out the blade of your tongue.
Hold for 3 seconds then release Repeat 10 times. For example, some medicines have: Sugar or film coating : This is usually to make them taste better, but crushing may make them taste unpleasant. Enteric coating : This coating is designed to keep the tablet whole in the stomach, in some cases to protect the stomach or to protect the medicine from stomach acid so that it is released after passing through the stomach, for example in the intestine.
This type of tablet should never be crushed. Modified or controlled release: These medications have been designed to release slowly and act over a longer period, so they can be taken less often. Crushing this type of tablet would lead to a rapid release of the medicine which could be harmful. Read More Log in Social login does not work in incognito and private browsers. Please log in with your username or email to continue. No account yet? Create an account.
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Method 1. All rights reserved. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc. Drink more water during the day. Drink a small glass of water before bedtime as well. Avoid very sweet or very sour foods and drinks. When you put a sour candy or a sweet treat in your mouth, you may produce extra saliva in order to dilute the strong taste sensation.
Cutting back on really sour or sweet things may help noticeably reduce the amount of saliva in your mouth. Talk to your doctor about medical and medication causes.
If your body produces too much saliva for unknown reasons, your doctor may be able to diagnose a medical condition that is causing it. If a known medical condition or treatment is the culprit, your doctor may be able to change your medication or make other treatment adjustments.
Likewise, some medications—such as the antipsychotic drug Clozapine—can trigger extra saliva. Take any prescribed medications to treat hypersecretion. Hypersecretion is the medical term for over-production of saliva, and there are several medications approved for treating this condition. They sometimes cause side effects like sleepiness, dizziness, and a racing heartbeat, however, so discuss the pros and cons of the various options with your doctor.
Although choking on saliva happens to everyone from time to time, repeatedly choking on saliva could indicate an underlying health problem or bad habit. Choking on saliva can occur if the muscles involved in swallowing weaken or stop functioning properly due to other health problems. You may also experience the following:. Occasionally choking on saliva may not be a cause for concern. But if it happens frequently, identifying the cause could prevent future occurrences.
Possible causes of choking on saliva include:. Acid reflux is when stomach acid flows back into the esophagus and mouth. As stomach contents flow into the mouth, saliva production may increase to wash away the acid.
Acid reflux can also irritate the lining of the esophagus. This can make swallowing difficult and allow saliva to pool in the back of your mouth, causing choking. Your doctor can diagnose acid reflux disease by either an endoscopy or special type of X-ray. Treatment can include over-the-counter or prescription antacids to reduce stomach acid. This is a disorder where saliva collects in the mouth while sleeping and then flows into the lungs, leading to aspiration and choking. You may wake up gasping for air and choking on your saliva.
An older study theorizes there may be a link between abnormal swallowing and obstructive sleep apnea. A sleep study test can help your doctor diagnose obstructive sleep apnea and abnormal swallowing. Treatment includes use of a CPAP machine. This machine provides continuous airflow while sleeping. Another treatment option is an oral mouth guard. The guard is worn while sleeping to keep the throat open.
Benign or cancerous lesions or tumors in the throat can narrow the esophagus and make it difficult to swallow saliva, triggering choking. Your doctor can use an imaging test, like an MRI or CT scan, to check for lesions or tumors in your throat.
Treatment may involve surgically removing a tumor, or radiation or chemotherapy to shrink cancerous growths. Other symptoms of a tumor can include:. The salivary glands produce more saliva when nerves in the mouth detect a foreign object like food.
If you wear dentures , your brain might mistake your dentures for food and increase saliva production. Too much saliva in your mouth could cause occasional choking.
Saliva production may slow down as your body adjusts to the dentures.
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