Favorite mouth care for really dry mouths?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

What do like to use to clean dry secretions in the mouth of mouth breathers, end of life, etc.

I hate the lemon glycerine swabs and find the sponges with water or mouthwash not very good either.

My favorite is one that an old nurse taught me MANY years ago. Heavy cream. Have any of you heard of this? What do you think of it?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Home Health.

never heard of it. I mix a solution of mouthwash, peroxide, mineral oil. It works wonders to clean out those chunks of "plastic" out of the roof of the mouth.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

We have oral care "kits" that contain a suction sponge with a mouthwash solution to clean, and then another non-suction sponge that you pair with a mint mouth moisturizer. We have them for vented patients, but if I have other pts with poor oral care or are very dry, I'll use the kits on them as well.

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Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

We have kits that have CHX in them for vents, along with hydrogen pyroxide and swabs. The med/surg floors have swabs, chapstick, and mouthwash...little more than flavored water. Personally, I like to use a mix of hyrdogen pyroxide and water, with a splash of mouthwash. We also have some artificial saliva that works well.

It's my big pet peeve with someone who's npo due to a tube....I hate finding the plastic chunks in someone's mouth...

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KY jelly

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Specializes in ICU.
We have oral care "kits" that contain a suction sponge with a mouthwash solution to clean, and then another non-suction sponge that you pair with a mint mouth moisturizer. We have them for vented patients, but if I have other pts with poor oral care or are very dry, I'll use the kits on them as well.

I love these too! That mouth moisturizer stuff softens all the crud up, and you can clean it out very gently after just letting the moisturizer sit for a couple of hours. Best stuff ever!

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I've never heard of the cream, but the emollient of the fat would help a lot, I would think.

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Specializes in Med Surg, ER, OR.

we only use swabs and mouthwash with some availability to lip gel. I hate them and they don't do any good. It also doesn't help when your assistive staff don't understand the meaning of good oral care.

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