Monday, August 11, 2008

Dry Mouth Causes Cavities

I've never had a cavity in my life. Today, at the dentist, I found out I have THREE cavities. THREE!

Well, check out this excerpt from a previous post of mine: "My side effects from the Desipramine and Lexapro have been dry mouth (which I don't mind too much - I now have an excuse to eat lots of candy and chew gum; plus I drink a lot of water)..."

Interesting, isn't it? I don't often get to give lessons from my experiences, but here's a valuable lesson - DRY MOUTH - or perhaps the candy you eat to create saliva - CAUSES CAVITIES. Grr. To my defense I rarely drink sugary drinks, I chew sugar-free gum, and the candy I had wasn't more than I had in college, when I was convinced that I couldn't write papers and study without constantly popping the candy. So the dry mouth side effect had to have been a factor, because I had it for a while. And as every migraine or headache-sufferer knows, dry mouth is a common side effect for lots of meds.

There are saliva rinses/sprays; in fact, last time I was at the dentist, they gave me some samples, but they don't work very long. (I have a lesson, but not a solution...sorry.)

On Wednesday, I have a physical therapy appointment, a neurology appointment and then another dental appointment to get my THREE cavities fixed. That's going to be a fun-packed day for sure. Jealous?

P.S. - About the night guard - my dentist said he's heard of bad things happening with them, like someone's back teeth not touching after using one from a pharmacy; but he also said that those are rare cases. He said a custom one from the dentist is best, but expensive. He said from looking at my teeth that the grinding wasn't too bad, so I think I'll just give up the night guard. I'm still getting headaches anyway.