Why does my mouth taste salty?

Saliva naturally contains salts. When there is less of it, or it is more concentrated, you notice the salt. Fluids draining from the nose and sinuses also contain salt, as do tears and blood. That is why most salty tastes trace back to dryness or drainage rather than to anything you ate.

1. Dehydration. Cleveland Clinic explains that dehydration changes the quality of your saliva and concentrates its salt. Drinking more usually fixes it.
2. Dry mouth (xerostomia). Your salivary glands do not make enough saliva. It often comes with bad breath and a sore throat and becomes more common with age.
3. Medicines. Antidepressants (especially tricyclics), antihistamines, chemotherapy, diuretics, pain relievers and sedatives can dry the mouth and change taste.
4. Postnasal drip. Mucus from allergies or long-term sinus infection drains down the throat. Cleveland Clinic lists bad breath, frequent swallowing and throat clearing among its symptoms.
5. Reflux. Can taste salty or sour and usually comes with heartburn, a chronic cough or a feeling of something stuck in the throat.
6. Pregnancy. Hormones can inflame the nose (pregnancy rhinitis) and cause postnasal drip, which usually resolves a few weeks after delivery.
7. Sjögren's syndrome. An autoimmune condition affecting the tear and salivary glands. The NHS lists dry eyes, dry mouth, aching joints, tiredness and swollen glands in the cheeks, neck and jaw.
8. Nerve problems. Rarely, damage to taste nerves from a brain injury or tumor causes a lasting salty taste, usually with other symptoms such as headaches, seizures, vision changes or loss of smell.

• Drink water steadily through the day, unless your doctor has asked you to limit fluids because of heart or kidney disease.
• Use over-the-counter dry mouth lozenges or rinses, and chew sugar-free gum.
• Rinse the nose with saline for congestion and postnasal drip. If you are pregnant, check with your provider before using any medicated spray.
• Treat reflux: smaller meals, nothing for 3 or 4 hours before bed, and raising the head of the bed.
• Keep up brushing and tongue cleaning. Long-term dry mouth raises the risk of tooth decay, so this matters more than usual.
• Ask your doctor whether a medicine could be swapped if it is drying your mouth.

Cleveland Clinic says a salty taste on its own is usually dehydration or dry mouth, but advises seeing a provider if it comes with hoarseness or a voice change, a lump in the neck, swelling of the salivary glands in front of the ear or under the jaw, or trouble chewing or swallowing, or if you have diabetes, heart, kidney or autoimmune disease. The NHS advises seeing a GP for sinusitis that has not improved after 3 weeks of self-care.