Maintaining Good Oral Health

[Chip (OP)]

if you are experiencing tooth decay from the dry mouth that so many drugs cause then simply get some (hopefully fluoridated) tap water and sip on it every 30 minutes or so.

brush/rinse your teeth and mouth prior to sleep.

it pays to obsess over this.

[candy]

A great topic for those of us who use drugs.

Dry mouth is unfortunately a bad side effect from street drugs and pharmaceuticals.
Sipping on water is a great tip, but there are also other things you can do to help.
Keep sugar free gum or candy to suck on to help increase saliva production.
Stop smoking if you can.
Brush often and use a toothpaste or mouth rinse made for dry mouth. They can be a bit expensive, so go for any generic brand you can find to decrease the cost.
 You also want to avoid any mouth rinse with alcohol in it. It will make your dry mouth worse.
Adding moisture to your bedroom at night while you sleep also helps. If you have a humidifier, get it out and get it going.

Just a few tips that hopefully some will find helpful.

[St. Theresa]

Candy is quite right ...hi candy!:)

Also there are over the counter lubricating mouth washes that help immensely.  Biotene, and other brands also have pastes to help as well.

[op8world]

I feel compelled to post on this topic because it is a topic I know so well.

Sadly it's true that many types of drugs and most/all opioids will precipitate an unhealthy oral environment primarily due to dryness.  When the oral skin/gums/tongue have less than a normal healthy moisture level, decay and cavities will be more likely even if you brush your teeth immediately after you finish eating, every time you eat.

I'm wondering if there are any opioids that do not have any capacity to dry the mouth.  Anyone know?

Potential remedies to dry mouth previous posts have mentioned all sound good to me except sucking on candy.  While the moisture and saliva created by the candy would be a positive, the decay coming from the sugar within that saliva would make sucking candy a net negative. While it's inconvenient and annoying to have a dry mouth, I am more concerned about the tooth decay resulting from the dry mouth than the irritation factor of the dry mouth itself.
Perhaps a sugar-free candy?  I'm not sure if sucralose is bad for teeth.

Another way to combat dry mouth is a dry mouth oral paste or gel. In a way it fucking sucks donkey balls because it has a texture reminiscent of sex jelly. It does work though.

Maybe someone should poll the people using this site on how many cavities they have had filled and how many times they have required major dental work.

[bignasty]

The timing of this thread is perfect. Wife and I have never had a cavity in our lives and we're currently both on 'done. We both started having small dental issues before we got on 'done and were still doin dope but it seems like hers has gotten worse and mine has came back.

Sounds like she's got a possible cavity and maybe an abscess as her head and whole jaw are hurting. I'm not sure if I have a cavity or just a loose tooth. I can't feel that it's loose but when I bite on hard shit or bite a certain way, it hurts like hell and I have to chew with the other side of my mouth.

We both take good care of our teeth but we also eat alot of sweets since getting on 'done. I drink lots of water, bottled and tap. Neither one of us has been to a dentist for a teeth cleaning in at least 10 yrs though so maybe that's the problem. I honestly didn't think I'd ever have any dental issues from my use of opioids/opiates since I drink so much water and always brush at least once a day.

I do use listerine though, never thought about it making dry mouth worse though but that definitely seems true.
Also, as far as opi's that don't cause dry mouth, I don't remember ever having dry mouth from fent and that's including when I cheek the gel patches that taste like they have rubbing alcohol in them and seems like they would cause hardcore dry mouth. When I wear the patches or shoot dope with fent in it, I don't remember having dry mouth either. Might've been too fucked up to notice or care though.