About a year ago, I started having a painfully dry mouth and bad breath – neither of which have I ever had. I thought these two issues were connected. However, that was not the case. My mouth hurt so bad I was changing what and how I was eating to accommodate the pain. The below has taken about nine months to find a workable solution. I've been wearing a CPAP for 20 years and had weight loss surgery (WLS) two and half years ago. I say that because they were a part of my consideration when looking for the issue. I assumed that the problem was related to CPAP or sleep apnea, but as an RN with research methodology experience, I tried not to make assumptions. Now, something changed medically, but I don't know what or why. Did one of the two medical problems cause this? Were they related, or was it something else entirely? As a critical care RN, this was not my area, so I didn't have anything to pull from, so I started researching. For each intervention I tried, I used a semi-research approach – meaning I would try or change one thing and evaluate it before I moved to the subsequent intervention. First, I went to an out-of-town local dentist (I was working out of town), not my regular one, and they didn't have anything to add. It was a complete waste of time. However, out of desperation, I went to Walgreens and bought two different mouth rinses. I got some relief from GUM rincinol. However, it was temporary and hit or miss. However, it did provide some relief. The jar is small and was about $10 a bottle, so it wasn't cost-effective. The other one didn't help at all. Second, I went to my regular dentist. She did a complete exam and stated there wasn't a dental issue that was causing dry mouth or bad breath. She offhandedly said it must be coming from my gut. It took me a couple of weeks to remember I had changed my probiotic. I switched back to the regular brand, resolving my bad breath but doing nothing for the dry mouth. Next, my dentist recommended a couple of things: 1. Biotene Oral balance moisturizing gel. (This didn't do anything.) 2. CloSYS Ultra Sensitive Mouthwash. This didn't do anything, either. 3. ACT Dry Mouth Anticavity Mouthwash – this had some positive effects. I would say my dry mouth was 25% better using this alone. Third, I went to my pulmonologist related to sleep apnea. We went through my last sleep study, but nothing stood out. She recommended changing masks but doubted that was the problem. I have been using the same style of mask for several years. She also wanted to update my CPAP machine. I'm waiting for all that to happen. Fourth, while waiting on the new CPAP supplies, I was researching the Biotene gel I noticed a couple of other products. I ordered Biotene Oral Rinse and Biotene Fluoride toothpaste for dry mouth. As noted before, the gel didn't work. This is the only time I made two different changes simultaneously. I tried the Biotene Oral Rinse and Biotene toothpaste. Honestly, I thought they would work together since these two were of the same brand. That didn't happen. The progress I had made using the ACT Mouthwash was lost. So I quickly switched back to the ACT rinse but kept using the toothpaste. This combination worked better. At this point, I would say my overall dry mouth was 50% better utilizing this combination. Finally, I was reading the reviews of the Biotene toothpaste, and several reviews mentioned SALIVEA Dry Mouth Toothpaste. I ordered it. Once it arrived, I tried it with the ACT Mouthwash, and there was an immediate improvement. I estimate a 75% improvement on the first day. After that, I tried it with the Biotene Oral Rinse back down to 50%. I switched back, and I'm at about 85-90% improvement with about a week's use. The SALIVEA toothpaste made all the difference. I can’t stress enough how much this has helped. I know this is a long review, but I felt someone could benefit from my trial-and-error process.
