A metal taste in your mouth can be caused by a serious medical condition including cancer, but it can also be triggered by a disorder in your digestive tract.
“In the occasional patient, acid reflux (GERD) can cause the production of frothy secretions in the mouth; this is called waterbrash,” explains Dr. Brian Lacy, MD, of Dartmouth Hitchcock Med Center, who specializes in functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, and author of “Healing Heartburn.”
A metal taste in the mouth from a digestive issue?
Dr. Lacy says that this waterbrash “results from acid refluxing into the mouth and stimulating the salivary glands to make a bicarbonate-rich fluid.
“In some patients this may taste a little metallic. Otherwise, patients with IBS or chronic constipation are not more likely to report a metallic taste than others.”
So if you have irritable bowel syndrome or a benign chronic constipation, and you then begin experiencing this phantom taste sensation, you’d be wise to report it to your doctor.
Cancer as a cause is actually not likely, but not impossible: More causes of a metal taste in your mouth.
