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Increased Saliva Production
Hi everyone,
Recently I have had an increase of patients coming in complaining of increased levels of saliva! There are plenty of reasons why excessive saliva may be present! Drooling can result from a constant open mouth position that does not allow saliva to collect and provide the pressure cues needed to trigger the swallow. If a child/person doesn’t have the sensory awareness to trigger a swallow, this puts them at increased levels for choking! Seriously dangerous stuff. A recent increase in an open mouth posture can be the result of enlarged tonsils/adenoids, infection, or allergies. If you feel like this is something that your child is struggling with, a consult with an ENT is a great option. They will help determine if there are any structural abnormalities contributing to your child’s open mouth posture.
An increase in drooling can also be the result of oral motor weakness. Oral motor weakness impacts speech and feeding skills and is treatable by licensed speech language pathologists. I am attaching a really great list of exercises I found online used to decrease drooling: https://www.justintimetherapy.com/uploads/DOC035.PDF
Contact a speech language pathologist for all your concerns over oral motor weakness! At the long island center for speech and myofunctional therapy we can help identify specific areas of weakness and develop the appropriate treatment plan.
–Stephanie
