Dry mouth...

[tursiops]

What's your yearly maintenance cost? Do you worry about any bio growth in the hose between the first and second stage?

I've just changed the foam moisturizer and the carbon filter for the first time in 3 years. $40 or something. Don't know if it needed it.
Why would there be bio growth? Clean air and distilled water. The system is not wet; it just puts some small moisture in the air.
Here is the manual.

 

[Snoweman]

If you think Listerine breath strips are a good idea, but forget to buy them, then why ask about anything else that you can buy that would work? If you're going to forget to buy Listerine strips it would naturally follow you'd forget to buy anything else someone might suggest.

The problem here isn't dry mouth it's your short term memory.

No argument there! I forgot for the first ten dives!

I was also wondering what would be a better idea/substitute - especially when in a country that might not have breath strips.

 

[ColoDale]

I used to have dry mouth quite a bit but I found that moving the reg and mouthpiece around and pulling it out a bit but still in my mouth and then chewing just a bit to generate saliva helped significantly but not enough to damage the mouthpiece. I had to make enough saliva as my throat would be dry also. Overall I found that not moving the mouthpiece much at all during a dive caused dry mouth and throat. Moving and holding to one side and further out for a bit not only helped dryness but also jaw fatigue.

 

[Snoweman]

I'm biased in favor of Jolly Ranchers

Ok..., that would go against the aspiration idea...

 

[Snoweman]

I used to have dry mouth quite a bit but I found that moving the reg and mouthpiece around and pulling it out a bit but still in my mouth and then chewing just a bit to generate saliva helped significantly but not enough to damage the mouthpiece. I had to make enough saliva as my throat would be dry also. Overall I found that not moving the mouthpiece much at all during a dive caused dry mouth and throat. Moving and holding to one side and further out for a bit not only helped dryness but also jaw fatigue.

Interesting... I have the SeaCure mouthpiece. That helps lock it into my mouth. I do move it around now and again, but it doesn't help my initial descent.

 

[flyboy08]

Dunk Oreos in milk! Oh wait.......never mind

 

[fmerkel]

Metal 2nd stages. Same idea as the Sherwood Oasis but a little better I think, having used both. I think the complete metal 2nd has more surface area to work with. They return some of your exhaled moisture you lose on each exhalation.Not perfect, but an improvement. Sometimes that's all it takes.

A club member suffering from the same problem gave up his Apollo unit for a Scubapro 109 metal 2nd. No reason you couldn't do both, though I don't know if the effect would be additive.

 

[johnnywulff]

. If you start getting dry mouth, take your reg out, suck on it for a second or two and put the reg back in.

This is what I do when it's feel very dry mouth and throat.
Cheers

 

[D_Fresh]

I've been told this is a bad omen to take on a boat. Banana spiders are supposed to be a hazard.

The Banana superstition is actually from the ethylene off gassing during ripening, spoiling other food. <-- Source, I was a fisherman in SE AK

But to the topic at hand, I also suffer from dry mouth on long dives. The Biotene, as mentioned, might be a good solution. I don't have any available in my location, so I can't try it myself but I do like it for non-diving use when I'm State-side.

Hard candies would also work well, but I also fear accidentally inhaling it.

For now I actually drink some sports drink or juice before diving. Drinking water actually removes some of the thinner saliva, causing the mouth to dry out quicker. Try the juice or something else to maintain or thicken your saliva, it might extend the onset of dry mouth.

 

[ColoDale]

Metal 2nd stages. Same idea as the Sherwood Oasis but a little better I think, having used both. I think the complete metal 2nd has more surface area to work with. They return some of your exhaled moisture you lose on each exhalation.Not perfect, but an improvement. Sometimes that's all it takes.

A club member suffering from the same problem gave up his Apollo unit for a Scubapro 109 metal 2nd. No reason you couldn't do both, though I don't know if the effect would be additive.

I did the same with an IDI reg. I recall they had a diagonal metal plate in the 2nd which was supposed to help keep the air from getting too dry. I can't say if I noticed a difference.