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Dry mouth

Overview

Open all pages about Dry mouth

Causes of a dry mouth can include dehydration, certain medicines and cancer treatments. Sometimes it can be caused by a condition like diabetes.

Things you can do to help ease a dry mouth include drinking cold water, sucking ice cubes or sugar-free sweets and chewing sugar-free gum.

If you have a dry mouth, a pharmacist can recommend treatments to help keep your mouth moist. These include gels, sprays, and tablets or lozenges.

A dry mouth is not usually serious. There are things you can do to help ease it yourself but see a GP if they do not work or you have other symptoms.

Page last reviewed: 29/11/2023
Next review due: 29/11/2026