Yes, allergies can contribute to sticky saliva.
Here's a breakdown of how allergies can lead to this:
- Nasal Congestion and Mouth Breathing: Allergies, especially seasonal allergies, often cause a stuffy nose. This nasal congestion forces you to breathe through your mouth more frequently.
- Dehydration and Dry Mouth: Mouth breathing leads to dry mouth as saliva evaporates more quickly. The reduced moisture affects the saliva's consistency.
- Thicker Saliva: When you're dehydrated, the saliva becomes thicker and stickier. This is because there's less water content in the saliva.
Therefore, while allergies don't directly alter the composition of saliva to make it inherently sticky, they can trigger a chain of events that results in that sensation. The primary driver is the mouth breathing caused by nasal congestion, which leads to dehydration in the oral cavity.
