Dental Work, Flares, and Burning Mouth

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Those of you who have been reading this blog or checking in on the “About Kalí” page know that I suspect that dental work was a major contributor to my chronic burning mouth. I can tie the syndrome to dental work in both instances it has occurred in my life and even a dental cleaning, no matter how gentle, can cause me to have a minor flare in burning intensity.

Sometimes you just have to get something major done though, and for me, it was the recent replacement of a very deteriorated crown. It was on my lower left back molar and the porcelain cladding had chipped way over the years until I was chomping on metal.

Eventually, I broke through the metal and actually had a hole that could lead to decay and abscess, and my dentist and I decided it was time to “bite the bullet” and replace that crown.

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Dental Care and Burning Mouth

The end of the year approaches and many of you are squeezing in those last yearly checkups. Don’t forget your teeth and mouth! I know that Burning Mouth can make dentist visits a bit more difficult but remember your mouth may be much drier than normal and dryness leads to more bacteria growth, which leads to decay.

Not kidding.

Saliva usually washes bacteria away as a natural process, but when there is less saliva, those bacteria can park and enjoy a picnic on your teeth. Decay, infection, abscess, gum recession, and disease can result and have you in a dentist’s chair longer and more often!

One strategy I have found to inhibit bacteria growth in my mouth is to use Xylitol (made from birch bark only) as my sweetener of choice. Click here for more information about Xylitol.

My personal strategy was to substitute Xylitol for my regular sweetener slowly. It can cause some side effects gastrically, so adding it gradually bypasses much of that reaction. I also gradually substituted Xylitol gum for my regular mouth-moistening chew.

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