xerostomia

n. dryness of the mouth (Medicine)

"Cotton mouth" redirects here. For the Cottonmouth snake, see Agkistrodon piscivorus. Xerostomia is the medical term for a dry mouth due to a lack of saliva. Xerostomia is sometimes colloquially called pasties or cottonmouth.Xerostomia can cause difficulty in speech and eating. It also leads to halitosis and a dramatic rise in the number of cavities, as the protective effect of saliva is no longer present, and can make the mucosa of the mouth more vulnerable to infection. Notably, a symptom of methamphetamine abuse usually called "meth mouth" is largely caused by xerostomia.
See more at Wikipedia.org...

Xerostomia /xe·ro·sto·mia/ dryness of the mouth due to salivary gland dysfunction. xe·ro·sto·mi·a n. [more]Xerostomia - Community and Resources

Noun
1. abnormal dryness of the mouth resulting from decreased secretion of saliva
(synonym) dry mouth
(hypernym) dryness, waterlessness, xerotes

Dry mouth. Xerostomia can be associated with systemic diseases (such as Sjogren’s syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, sarcoidosis, amyloidosis, hypothyroidism, and others). Xerostomia results from inadequate function of the salivary glands, such as the parotid glands.