A sticky solution

I found this very valuable article in "The Lady" magazine:
 
Chewing gum has a useful therapeutic value for those troubled by the discomfort of a dry mouth in stimulating the salivary glands to flow. Recently, in an ingenious piece of lateral thinking, Canadian Neurologist Dr Mandar Jog, has shown that it also has the reverse effect in reducing the excess saliva (which often results in drooling) that is a common feature of Parkinson’s disease.
The rationale is as follows: the many disturbances of function associated with this (and similar) neurological disorders include reduced frequency and poor coordination of the swallowing reflex, with the result that saliva “overflows”.
Dr Jog speculated that chewing gum might mitigate this by stimulating the reflex to work more effectively – so though it would generate more saliva, this would be more readily cleared. And so it turned out as he recently reports in the journal, Neurology, concluding that chewing gum “is a cost-effective, self-managed approach” to reduce excess saliva.

Very interesting  as i do tend to suffer with a slight drool at  night  when lying down  and do find visits to the dentist  a little unpleasant due to a excess saliva problem

thanks for the info butterfly

Hi:)

As a long-time gum chewer I can attest to the joys of chewing gum - but early on I discovered, all that saliva was cutting the strength of my stomach acid - because when you chew your telling your stomach to "get ready here comes some food,"  and it never comes. Over time, the stomach acid dilutes to adjust and soon you've got digestive problems. My advice, don't chew gum for any length of time.

Worried well