Saliva — Over- and Underproduction

Saliva is one of those fluids you only notice when something goes wrong. Either your mouth becomes dry — sticky, tacky, rough, as if someone turned off the source overnight. Or there is too much — your jaw fills up, moisture lands on your pillow at night, fluid collects at the corners of your mouth when you speak. Two seemingly opposite phenomena, both involving the same apparatus: the salivary glands, which continuously regulate how you take in what comes your way.

Medically, there are long lists of possible causes — medications, diabetes, Sjögren's syndrome, anxiety disorders, reflux, hormonal shifts. These lists are real, and they matter. But they don't answer one question: Why now? Why this mouth, this body, this life — and not someone else's?