The grant from the National Institutes of Health is meant to study the problem of dry mouth or xerostomia, a result of decreased saliva flow from under-functioning salivary glands.

What it means: Dry mouth, or xerostomia, occurs when the mouth doesn’t produce enough saliva.

Yeast infections of the mouth, which are most common among denture-wearers, can spell trouble for your breath, and so can xerostomia – a condition more commonly known as dry mouth.