Why do I wake up with white foam on my mouth?

Of late, I wake up every morning with whitish stuff like a snail walked on the outside of my mouth. This never happened before. Is it normal? Stella

Dear Stella,
The snail track-like findings known as bigonero in Runyoro or ngeregeze in Luganda are thought to be related to snoring.

The mouth produces saliva all the time and when we have problems swallowing it as we sleep, it flows out of the mouth onto the cheeks.
Saliva is not just water but has substances such as mucus which when it dries on the cheeks looks like snail tracks.

When we are asleep, accumulation of saliva will weigh down the throat, which will then allow the saliva to be swallowed. If one sleeps with the mouth open, the saliva will instead flow out of the mouth, onto the cheeks, leading to the snail tracks.
One cannot swallow saliva when the mouth is wide open.

Much as the tracks could be embarrassing, they are not a medical condition requiring medical attention unless related to a medical condition such as enlarged tonsils or a stuffy nose (due to night time allergies), obesity and other causes of snoring, which require addressing.

how to control drooling
• Sleep on your back. Side-sleepers are more prone to drooling during the night simply because gravity is causing the mouth to open and allowing drool to pool on your pillow.
• Prop your head up. If you cannot sleep without laying on your side, trying propping yourself in a more vertical position to encourage your mouth to close and create better air flow.
• Breathe through your nose, not your mouth. The main reason that people drool is that their nasal sinuses are clogged.

Dr Vincent Karuhanga