What Causes Sialorrhea?

Enlarged Tongue

An enlarged tongue and macroglossia are terms used to describe when an individual's tongue is inflamed, swollen, or larger than normal in size and proportion to other structures in the oral cavity. An enlarged tongue can be the result of cancer, inflammatory diseases, endocrine disorders, infectious diseases, and numerous different congenital disorders. Sialorrhea can happen in individuals affected by an enlarged tongue as the result of Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, congenital hypothyroidism, Down syndrome, and primary amyloidosis. An enlarged tongue is typically not the sole cause of an affected individual's sialorrhea unless it is very severe. An enlarged tongue that causes an individual to develop sialorrhea is usually associated with oral incompetence, nerve dysfunction, and sensory dysfunction that causes the individual to be unable to mediate the spillage of saliva from their oral cavity.

Read more about the various causes of sialorrhea now.

Cerebral Palsy

A cerebral palsy patient can experience sialorrhea as a complication of their neurological disorder. Cerebral palsy is a condition that adversely affects the function of an individual's posture, movement, and muscle tone. Cerebral palsy occurs when an individual incurs an injury or damage to the brain tissues during the time it is developing, which is common before birth. Cerebral palsy is one of the most prevalent causes of sialorrhea in children because infancy and early childhood are the ages where symptoms begin to manifest in individuals affected by cerebral palsy. Neuromuscular dysfunction is common in cerebral palsy, which is the inability of the nerves to communicate with the muscles properly. Sensory dysfunction occurs when the individual is unable to feel touch, temperature, and pain properly. Both of these problems can occur in a cerebral palsy patient, which can cause them to develop sialorrhea.

Uncover more causes of sialorrhea now.