Can Medication Cause Drooling As a Side Effect?

Family Medicine, Primary Care Roots Community Health Center, Hippo Education, Kameda Medical Center

Supervised by Kenji Taylor, MD

Yes, some medications can lead to drooling because they affect your saliva production and how well you swallow.

Explanation

Certain drugs can make you drool by changing the way your body makes or moves saliva. For example, medicines that affect the chemicals in your brain or those that change how your nerves work might lead to more saliva being formed or slow down your swallowing. Some drugs used to treat conditions like schizophrenia have been known to cause hypersalivation, or too much saliva, while other medications might make the muscles in your mouth less effective at swallowing. This extra saliva has a higher chance of collecting in your mouth and eventually drooling out. There are studies that look at drugs causing changes in salivary gland function, and they show that this can be a side effect of how the medicine works. If you notice that you are drooling more than usual after starting a new medication, it might be a good idea to talk with your healthcare provider. They can check if the medicine is causing these changes and may suggest adjusting your medication or using a treatment that can help manage the extra saliva.

(References)

Essali A, Rihawi A, Altujjar M, Alhafez B, Tarboush A, Alhaj Hasan N. Anticholinergic medication for non-clozapine neuroleptic-induced hypersalivation in people with schizophrenia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013 Dec 19;2013(12):CD009546. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD009546.pub2. PMID: 24353163; PMCID: PMC11357688.
Miranda-Rius J, Brunet-Llobet L, Lahor-Soler E, Farré M. Salivary Secretory Disorders, Inducing Drugs, and Clinical Management. Int J Med Sci. 2015 Sep 22;12(10):811-24. doi: 10.7150/ijms.12912. PMID: 26516310; PMCID: PMC4615242.
Wolff A, Joshi RK, Ekström J, Aframian D, Pedersen AM, Proctor G, Narayana N, Villa A, Sia YW, Aliko A, McGowan R, Kerr AR, Jensen SB, Vissink A, Dawes C. A Guide to Medications Inducing Salivary Gland Dysfunction, Xerostomia, and Subjective Sialorrhea: A Systematic Review Sponsored by the World Workshop on Oral Medicine VI. Drugs R D. 2017 Mar;17(1):1-28. doi: 10.1007/s40268-016-0153-9. PMID: 27853957; PMCID: PMC5318321.

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