in taking my 4 year old to the doctors because he is always dribbling?

[Ohnonotagen]

DS will be 4 in a couple of weeks. He used to constantly dribble when younger which we put down to teething, then he more or less stopped for about a year but for at least the last six months he has been dribbling again. its not as bad as when he was little in that his clothes don't get totally soaked but he always seems to have drool coming out of his month, down his chin. He starts school in sept.

For info he's never had tonsilitis and there is no problem with his speech- in fact he speaks more properly than me!!

If you're concerned then it's perfectly reasonable to take him. It might be worth asking for speech therapy referral, I know his speech is fine but it might be his muscles in his louth / jaw need assessment and maybe some simple exercises? Good luck.

oops mouth not outh!!!

DS is 3.9 and still dribbles, not constantly but enough to be noticeable. Fairly sure it's because he had a tongue tie which was snipped but no think regrew to some extent. Watching with interest as not sure what to do myself tbh.

I have a friend who had two boys like this. Both of hers had some fairly severe speech difficulties, and interestingly also hypermobility. Essentially the muscles in their face, mouth, tongue and throat didn't always work properly, hence the speech difficulties and constant drooling. Another friend had a daughter who also dribbled constantly and who also had hypermobility, though her speech was fairly clear. Definitely take your child to the doctor and ask about the drool and any links to hypermobility if you suspect your child also suffers from that.

ok have made appointment for this afternoon, its with one of the registrar (trainee) doctors . will let you know how i get on (for info all appointments at our surgery are same day i haven't booked at emergency one!!)

My nephew had this problem and it turned out he had a soft palate and also needed his tonsils removing. He also suffered with severe sleep apnea which was affecting his learning and behaviour as he was so tired. Does he have any other symptoms?

Watching with interest...
My DS is 3.3 and dribbles so that his clothes are wet a lot of the time.
I am booking an appt with the GP today 7 weeks on Wednesday if it's like normal as I want it sorted and forgotten about before he starts school.
My son also has no speech delay and chats away very clearly apart from the "lu" noise and "th" but he can stick his tongue out to lick ice cream so I don't think it's tongue tie.
I'm thinking adenoids?

he doesn't have any other symtoms i can think of, although a had alot of problems with my tonsils and had my toncils and andenoids out when i was a kid so maybe its some kids of inherited thing?

My Dd had this. I mentioned it to the GP and he examined her but found nothing wrong. He said sometimes it can just be an overactive saliva gland. She grew out of it soon after. She was about 4 1/2 by the time it stopped.

ok went docs this afternoon. He got him to smile so he could see his mouth muscles, checked throat, ears and glands and all seemed ok. DS was quite chatty so heard him talking. Doc says he doesn't think anything is wrong and that it is still quite common at this age and he should grow out of it by time he is 6 or 7 when he realises more that he is dribbling and stops himself. He said some people naturally have more saliva and he will probably continue dribbling in his sleep into his teens/ adulthood. come to think of it i do drool quite a lot in my sleep so must be a family thing.

Hi, if you're not satisfied with this you could take him to the dentist? DP is a dentist and older child dribblers can sometimes have jaw alignment issues - not a huge deal but something that can be fixed when they are older. Not necessarily but worth a visit to see if he has an overbite or something?

think i'm satisfied with response, altho may go back and see one of the more senior docs if it gets any worse over the next 6 months- there are a couple of lady docs there who are really good with kids stuff. need to take him to dentist anyway so will try that too.

Oh my DS (4.6) dribbles still but I never realised it was something to really worry about. He has no speech delay and the dentist has never said there is any problems with his jaw (I'm a bit paranoid about him having an overbite as my ex had a huge bottom jaw).

Will have to mention the dribbling to the dentist next time.

Saw the GP today - checked his ears and looked at his throat and said he's fine. Not sure how that checks his adenoids but at least I can now try and get a referral to speech and language.

On a positive note,people who produce more saliva (i am one) have less cavities in their teeth. Every cloud... :)