Dry mouth is a subjective feeling. Subjective dry mouth is mostly accompanied by objective dry mouth. Some people mistake dry throat, dry lips, etc. for dry mouth. Others say that dry mouth is not all accompanied by objective manifestations of dry mouth. Therefore, dry mouth may be the patient's feeling of dry mouth or dry mouth.

If the mouth is dry for a long time, it may be a disease.

The typical manifestations of xerostomia patients are: Difficulties in chewing and swallowing when eating dry and hard foods such as biscuits, as well as complaints of burning sensation of oral mucosa, decreased or changed taste, etc.

There are many reasons for dry mouth, For example, physiological xerostomia, drinking too little water, eating salty food or too dry food, strenuous exercise, excessive sweating, menopause, mental stress and anxiety can all occur. Cold, massive vomiting, diarrhea can also cause pathological xerostomia. Diabetes, hyperthyroidism, and a history of radiotherapy for head and neck tumors can also cause pathological xerostomia.

If you have severe dry mouth, you should go to the Rheumatology and Immunology Department. You may be a patient with Sjogren's syndrome.

Sjogren's syndrome is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease mainly involving exocrine glands, also known as "autoimmune exocrine gland epithelial cell inflammation" or "autoimmune exocrine disease". In addition to dry mouth and dry eyes due to impaired salivary and lacrimal glands, there are also symptoms of multiple system damage due to involvement of other exocrine glands and organs other than glands.

The dry mouth of patients with Sjogren's syndrome is obvious, so that they need to drink frequently when speaking. When feeding solid food, they must be accompanied by water or liquid food. Some patients may have rampant teeth, abnormal immunological indicators may appear in laboratory tests, and some patients are accompanied by other connective tissue diseases. Early diagnosis and treatment of Sjogren's syndrome can improve the prognosis.

(Luo Junli, Rheumatology and Immunology Department, pictures from the Internet)