Difficulty Chewing
Chewing helps to break food down into easily ingestible sizes for smooth digestion; however, there is no break down without saliva to dissolve the chemicals and enable fine grinding.
When you chew food, you trigger the salivary glands to produce more saliva; however, when the glands begin to malfunction due to xerostomia, it makes it difficult to chew well. The saliva contains enzymes that help to aid digestion so, when the food does not mix with saliva in the mouth while chewing, the other stages of digestion like taste and swallowing become difficult. Saliva enzymes include amylase and lingual lipase, which helps to break down starch and fat respectively.