Excessive Salivation and Common Causes

Most people produce about 1 quart or maybe 2 quarts of saliva daily. Saliva production itself is all under the control of the autonomic nervous system. Sometimes certain scents of food will trigger a person's salivary glands to produce an excessive amount of saliva. After all, you've heard the expression, "It makes my mouth water?" This is true for many of us when there are smells around us of foods we love. When it is a lot more than that, the problem can be any number of things and sometimes only temporary. Some of the common ones are:

GERD-which means gastroesophageal reflux disease. This is heartburn where the bile in the stomach goes right back up into the throat. This leaves a very sour taste in the mouth, sometimes causes trouble swallowing and possible excessive saliva production. It is important that when you have GERD, to see your doctor for treatment.

There are people that wear dentures sometimes which do not fit the way they should. This is sometimes another reason for saliva to be excessive in the mouth. Dentures aren't always made to fit properly, and the only way to solve this problem is to correct the fitting.

A number of medications can also affect the production of saliva in the mouth. Some of the medications that have a side effect of excessive saliva production are certain anti psychotic drugs, some of the antidepressants, and some others for stomach ulcers. If you are taking a new medication and suddenly notice that you are producing more saliva then you should, talk to your doctor.

Pregnancy changes the whole body chemistry with the hormones and everything else. One of the things it can also do is cause more saliva than normal to be produced. Pregnant women also are highly likely to experience acid reflux disease, which makes the problem worse.

Strep throat or tonsillitis can also bring on an excessive amount of saliva production along with a fever, and swelling of the lymph nodes. As these two throat infections are cleared up, the excessive saliva production should disappear.

Poisoning of some types in the body can easily bring on the production of more saliva then normal. These include poisons like those from a poison snake which has venom. Poison snakebites will not only cause excessive saliva production, but many other symptoms such as vomiting, weakness, nausea, and likely fainting.

People that are having neurological problems commonly experience drooling since the production of saliva is excessive. These include things like Bell's Palsy, Parkinson's Disease, and strokes.

If you are concerned about this problem, it is best to see your doctor for evaluation.