# Drooling **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2002, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drooling/145126 "2002-12-27T08:23:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@Lure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lure)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drooling/145126/1 "2002-12-27T08:23:39Z")
Why is it that I sometimes drool in my sleep?I’ve noticed this in other sleepers,too. Are my mental proceeses slowed down sufficiently that I’m rendered a babbling idiot? 🙂 It does take me a little time in the morning until the 1st cup,that I can think clearly,usually. ---
**Author:** ![trader\_of\_shots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trader\_of\_shots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trader_of_shots)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drooling/145126/2 "2002-12-27T08:26:59Z")
Maybe your tooth paste you are using at night keeps the saliva going. Try switching brands. I used to think slower people (in speaking) and those with draws were stupid … thats the last time i make that mistake… ---
**Author:** ![fauxpas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e480ec/32.png) [@fauxpas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fauxpas)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drooling/145126/3 "2002-12-27T10:45:15Z")
Mabey your thinking of food? 😃 Or its heridty? (go with the second one, 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drooling/145126/4 "2002-12-27T10:50:46Z")
Dear God – _everything_ has a name around here! It’s [sialorrhea.](http://www.boston.com/globe/search/stories/health/how_and_why/040698_2.htm) > [@](#): > > Several things can cause nighttime drooling. Some medications increase saliva production. Your sleep posture can also contribute. When you lie on your back, saliva pools in the back of the throat and often causes a swallowing reflex that prevents drooling. But when you lie on your side, saliva can pool in your cheek – or flow onto your pillow. The article goes on … ---
**Author:** ![fauxpas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e480ec/32.png) [@fauxpas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fauxpas)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drooling/145126/5 "2002-12-27T10:52:59Z")
Ice Wolf…in my most “easy” words: Good Job, we should use google more often. ---
**Author:** ![trader\_of\_shots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trader\_of\_shots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trader_of_shots)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drooling/145126/6 "2002-12-27T10:56:11Z")
The googles, they do nothing !!! ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drooling/145126/7 "2002-12-27T11:31:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by trader\_of\_shots \* > \*\*The googles, they do nothing !!! \*\* Patience, th’ wisdom will come! I’m kidding! I’m kidding! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drooling/145126/8 "2002-12-27T14:01:15Z")
The reason you drool is that you sleep with your mouth open. You couldn`t drool if you slept with your mouth closed and breathed through your nose. My son sleeps with his mouth open and drools. This is hereditary on his part because his mom (my ex-wife) was also an open mouth sleeper and drooled. They are also very heavy sleepers which may have something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Lure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@Lure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lure)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drooling/145126/9 "2002-12-27T19:19:37Z")
Thank you \*\* Ice Wolf \*\* for the link.I think I’ve discovered the cause.Looks like a combination of sleep posture and sinus swelling from this winter hot air heat. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drooling/145126/10 "2002-12-27T22:30:39Z")
What about day time droolers? Perhaps TMI, but I got an ortho expander at the top of my mouth which caused me to begin making excess saliva, and no I still have that even though the expander is out. Occassionally, (once/week, in public), I’ll be sitting in class with my mouth open when disaster strikes, and I’ll always realize it in that split second between when the drool leaves your mouth and it begins its long, precipitious descent onto the desk, leaving me crying out in my mind, NOOOOOOOOO! But it’s too late. Any suggestions? Does changing tooth-paste really make a difference? ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drooling/145126/11 "2002-12-27T23:26:54Z")
The BBC have an [Ask the Doctor](http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/ask_doctor/saliva_excess.shtml) page on excessive saliva in general, **threemae** , including the following intriguing paragraph: > [@](#): > > You may simply have very powerful reflexes in your salivary ducts which squirt out normal amount of saliva in a large jet from one of the several salivary glands around the inside of the mouth. The opening of one of these ducts may simply be pointing out of your mouth. :eek: Um, you say you have your mouth open when these saliva attacks hit. Are you a mouthbreather for some reason (blocked sinuses, etc.)? That might act as part of the problem.