Cara,

One thing you might look into is Sicca Syndrome. Essentially, Sicca syndrome is a version of sjogrens.

The difference between sicca and sjogrens is that people with sjogrens will have positive test results when they have autoimmune blood work done (ANA, sed rate) and people with sjogrens usually have internal involvement (organs).

Sicca syndrome does not cause positive blood results, and does not cause internal involvement... siccs is basically dryness of any/all of the external areas (mouth, eyes, nose, vaginal, sometimes skin).

I was diagnosed with sicca symdrome because my sjogrens tests were negative, and because I have external dryness and no internal involvement.

Some doctors use the terms sicca syndrome and sjogrens to mean the same thing, but technically they are slightly different...

Anyway, when there is dryness present with no apparent cause, sicca syndrome is something to look into.

One thing to remember with oral dryness is that saliva is a tooth protectant and helps to rid the mouth of bacteria - so when a person has a dry mouth they have to be more vigilant about oral hygeine and tooth/gum care.

I also use Oasis brand oral spray to combat the dryness - and it works great. Biotene also makes great products for oral dryness (toothpaste, mouthwash, oral gel, gum, etc...) but I personally prefer the Oasis brand stuff.

Hope that helps,
Liz