What Could Cause Extreme Dryness Around The Palate And Tongue Despite Drinking Water And Trying To Salivate To Wet The Mouth?

Posted on Wed, 7 Apr 2021

Question: Hi, I have this problem seems to be my solft pallet, te back of my top of the roof of my mouth, like where the nose drained into the throte, ok that area gets relaly dry like maybe I hae to hock the mucus from the back of my nose or something, it gets to where sometimes so dry my tongue back of my throte kinda sticks to it, I work it some and force spittle to swallow or try to drink sometrhng and wash up past there, but it's a temporary fix, I wake up at night gaging sometimes even, it's starting to scare me.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Michelle Gibson (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
different possible causes

Detailed Answer:

Hi,

It is understandable to be concerned

There are different possible causes for dryness in the pharynx (back of the throat).

Some of the most common causes are- (1) infection
(2)allergies
(3)Sleeping with mouth open
(4)dehydration
(5)acid reflux
(6)side effect of medication

If you are currently on any medications, they should be checked to make sure that this is not a known side effect.

If you have nasal congestion and sleep with your mouth open, then you may need to consider the use of topical and/or oral decongestants to help with this problem. eg topical- normal saline or otrivine, Oral- sudafed

Make sure to use at least 8 glasses of fluid daily. Caffeine products or alcohol would not count because they cause the body to lose extra fluid.

Since the symptoms are starting to worrying you, you may want to consider seeing an ENT doctor

I hope this helps , feel free to ask any other questions

Note: Consult an experienced Otolaryngologist / ENT Specialist online for further follow up on ear, nose, and throat issues - Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar