The latest clinical trials have been using lozenges made from natural ingredients to treat dry mouth conditions. Dry mouth is very common amongst adults and almost affects as much as 40% of American adults. This study is being conducted at Georgia Health Sciences University College of Dental Medicine.

According to Dr. Stephen Hsu, these patients have mouths that are as dry as possible and the objective of this study is to get them feeling right. The reason behind this is that the salivary glands are there in their mouths but they are not working at optimum levels and therefore they aren’t able to produce saliva.

There have been previous studies that have been conducted on animals and tests on human samples and the findings pointed out to the inflammation of the salivary glands. Also, there were less anti-oxidant present along with abnormal growth and some kind of DNA damage. All of these can be controlled by getting the right kind of anti-oxidants in your body called polyphenols. These are found in large numbers in green tea and go on to make the damage caused to the salivary glands minimal. The green polyphenols that are found in the green tea in abundance will go on to ensure that all abnormal behavior in the salivary glands is halted. This was obseverd by Dr. Douglas Dickinson who is the Associate Professor in the Department of Oral Biology and co-investigator.

Thereafter, the team noticed that all lorenzes that had these natural agents added to them were far better at combating the dry mouth syndrome as they were able to ensure that the right amount of saliva could be produced in the mouth. They were far better than the other medications as they only affected the mouth region and did not have a harmful impact on the body. The other medications had an after effect of diarrhea or excessive sweating.

The clinical trial is going to go on for eight weeks and during that time one would be able to decide on whether these lozenges really do have an impact on dry mouth. There seems to be a great promise in the ability of the salivary glands to be able to produce more saliva making the mouth feel better with the help of these green tea and other natural ingredients laden lorenzes. Also, they want to study how long the effect of these lorenzes will actually last.

Dry mouth or Xerostomia as it is clinically known can be caused due to several different factors. It could be because of the immune system disorders or other kinds of diseases such as diabetes and cancer. Dry mouth can cause several different kinds of concerns such as bad breath, periodontal and gum diseases, mouth ulcers and a great amount of discomfort in the mouth.