dry mouth

I am a dentist and also suffer from oral cancer.  I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma of the right mandible 4 years ago.  Initial treatment included removing my right mandible along with my right parotid glad.  After that I had many courses of radiation and chemotherapy.  Both of these took a toll on my ability to produce saliva.  As a result I have an extremely dry mouth every day.  As mentioned, I am a dentist and know many of the common treatments for dry mouth including hyper hydration, salivary substitutes, drugs to increase salivation, stimulation of saliva with various mints or by chewing.  Unfortunatly because my glands are so extensively damaged none of these treatments has been adequate.

From personal experience I can tell you that dry mouth is no fun.  It makes it hard to speak, harder to swallow, and is just generally uncomfortable.

If I use a salivary substitute, and I do, I find that it provides me a few minutes of relief but not very long.  So the other day I had this idea that popped in my head and I tried it.  The idea was this.  Instead of water or a salivary substitute, why don't you use a little bit of coconut oil?   I had some of this in my home and I gave it a try.  The results were very satisfying.  As mentioned salivary substitutes provided minuted of relief however coconut oil left my mouth feeling moist for hours after taking it.

It is so easy.  Coconut oil can be bought almost anywhere and is inexpensive  In addition it is a very healthy oil, it tastes good and it melts at body temperature.

Here is how I use it.  When my mouth is dry I simply take a spoon, gather up a piece of coconut oil about the size of a pea and put it in my mouth and move it around for about a minute before swallowing.  The results have been very nice.

I intend to write an article to be published because I think others would benefit from my discovery but in the meantime I will start with simply posting a blog on the topic here.  I hope that it is of benefit to you.