ADA Asks FDA For Warning Labeling on the Dry-Mouth Risk of Prescription Drugs

Oct. 25, 2011 - PRLog -- Earlier this year, the American Dental Association (ADA) asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider requiring medications commonly associated with moderate to severe xerostomia, or dry mouth, carry a warning label with information regarding the oral complications associated with dry mouth.
In response, the FDA recently requested that the ADA support the idea of including additional label information for consumers regarding the risk and complications of moderate to severe dry mouth for any given drug.
Additionally, the FDA requested the ADA identify products of concern with labels that currently do not identify dry mouth as a possible adverse reaction following administering.
The FDA published a paper in May encouraging consumers with chronic dry mouth talk to their dentist and provide a list of all the medications they take in addition to any medical conditions or treatment they have had.
Dry mouth can be directly related to prescription drugs and their side effects. This condition presents itself when a person's salivary glands (of which there are three sets) do not function properly, resulting in inadequate secretion of saliva in the mouth. The lack of of saliva in the mouth results in a dry mouth condition, causing several complications.
Certain prescription drugs can affect one, two or all three glands as a side effect, thus diminishing their saliva output. As a result, the medical history of a patient is very important in the diagnosis of dry mouth as it can show information about prescription drugs currently being used (or previously used), thereby giving an opportunity to alter the drug dosage.

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