Dry mouth

Dry mouth

One of the most common side effects of cannabis inhalation is dryness in mouth. This unpleasant feeling bothers not only the vast majority of smokers, but also many vaporizer users – and most users do not know what is behind it and how to fight it.

Oral dryness and lowered ability to produce saliva is known as xerostomia among medical professionals. Cannabis users are lucky enough that the dryness goes usually away within a few hours after last inhalation, and that is why they do not suffer from serious health problems. On the other hand, patients with chronic xerostomia often suffer from teeth decay, oral infections, sore tongue and mucous membrane, and may also experience problems with food intake, swallowing and even talking.

Cannabinoids Are to Blame  

The causes of this seemingly trivial disorder are usually side effects of pharmaceuticals, but the cause in case of cannabis users is obviously different. There was a couple of studies on mice showing that increased presence of endocannabinoids in submandibular glanc lowers the amount of produced saliva indicating that phytocannabinoids such as THC may have similar effects.

If you are suffering from dry mouth after cannabis inhalation the ideal solution is to drink a lot of water, try a refreshing chewing gum – and maybe take a break from this method of application.