Serious Question
July 3rd, 2008 - 6:53 am
When you are just sitting around, not eating or drinking anything, and your mouth is clean but not just brushed, what does your mouth taste like?
I know that sounds like a completely stupid question, but I was wondering. See, the last few days I have had a salty taste in my mouth all the time. I was concerned at first about something going wrong with my mouth healing, but I closely examined every square inch, and everything looks healthy and fine. There isn’t anything going on in my mouth. It’s as if my saliva is just super salty for some reason.
Against my better judgment, I looked it up online, and all the medical sites have a short list of reasons for a salty taste in one’s mouth. The only one that could possibly apply is post-nasal drip, but after a lifetime of dealing with seasonal allergies, I know exactly what they flavor is like, and it’s different. The salty flavor in my mouth really tastes like I put pure salt in my mouth. Very, very salty and not sinus related at all … nor caused by medications, dehydration, or a brain tumor. Well, I’m guessing I don’t have a brain tumor, but it would seem unlikely that a salty flavor in my mouth would be the first thing I noticed, if I did.
Anyway, it’s really weird, and it’s starting to bother me immensely. My thought was that maybe normal healthy mouths do have a “flavor” to them that I hadn’t noticed before because my mouth hadn’t been normal and healthy in so long. I thought I’d ask the masses, if for no other reason than maybe put my mind at ease about the potential brain tumor. 
4 Responses to “Serious Question”
Have you had a lot of sodium in your diet lately? Sometimes when I do, I get that kind of taste in my mouth.
As for the brain tumor, I heard it was the smell of burned toast (for no discernable reason) that indicated it.
I wouldn’t think I’ve been taking in more sodium than usual. Eating and drinking the same things as always, and I’ve been going low-sodium for a while now on just about everything. The only new addition to my regular diet this week has been way too much ice cream. I didn’t read the label before it was empty and tossed. I’d not expect ice cream to have a lot of sodium in it, but these days who knows.
In the meantime, I’ll be watching for the smell of burnt toast in my nostrils when I am not actually burning toast.
Right now the centre of the roof of my mouth tastes salty, the rest doesn’t. Although moving my tounge around it I do get faint hints from elsewhere.
OK, see …. it got really, really bad the night I posted this. Then yesterday, it was just the center of the roof of my mouth all day. Today? No salty taste at all. Very weird, and I can’t account for what caused it.
Hope it doesn’t come back. It was really bugging me.