Salivation at the corners of the mouth is referred to as "涎下" in Neijing, and as "口吐涎" in the "Treatise on Cold Damage Diseases" and Jingui Yaolue.

In children, drooling is called "infantile slobbering", as stated in Zhubing Yuanhou Lun: "The disease of infantile slobbering is when saliva flows out and wets the area under the chin, which is caused by the spleen being cold and producing excessive fluid." This is also discussed in this section.

bubble_chart Pattern Analysis

1. Wind Attacking the Collaterals︰Facial numbness, crooked mouth and eyes, inability to close the eyelids, aversion to wind and cold, tearing, drooling, white tongue coating, and floating, wiry pulse. The drooling at the corners of the mouth is due to emptiness of the meridians, allowing external wind to invade the Hand and Foot Yangming meridians, leading to obstruction of the meridian pathways, inability to close the mouth, and loss of control over body fluids. This is a mild case of wind apoplexy involving the meridians and collaterals, primarily caused by external wind.
2. Wind Phlegm︰Excessive salivation, hemiplegia, deviation of the mouth and eyes, crooked tongue with slurred speech, or unconsciousness, dizziness, blurred vision, gurgling phlegm in the throat, thick and greasy tongue coating, wiry and slippery pulse. Commonly seen in apoplexy or epilepsy, its mechanism of disease belongs to internal wind mixed with turbid phlegm ascending to disturb. From symptom analysis, salivation due to wind attacking the collaterals is milder, usually manifesting only as deviation of the mouth and eyes; whereas salivation due to wind-phlegm surging upward is more severe, presenting with crooked tongue and slurred speech, limb numbness and hemiplegia, or dementia, or incessant laughter, or sudden fainting, mental confusion, along with phlegm gurgling in the throat, thick and greasy tongue coating, wiry and slippery pulse, and other signs of excessive phlegm turbidity. Wind attacking the collaterals is mild and superficial, easier to treat, and should be addressed by expelling wind and dredging collaterals. Once the mouth deviation is cured, the salivation will naturally stop. The prescription uses Pull Aright Powder plus cicada slough, Schizonepeta, Saposhnikovia Root, Chastetree Fruit, and Uncaria. For salivation due to wind-phlegm surging upward, it is also necessary to differentiate deficiency and excess, cold and heat. For cases of deficiency and cold, treatment should focus on tonifying qi, resolving phlegm, extinguishing wind, and unblocking collaterals, using Six Gentlemen Decoction plus Gastrodia Tuber, Gentian, and ginger juice. For cases with heat, treatment should focus on clearing heat and resolving phlegm, regulating qi and unblocking collaterals, using Phlegm-Guiding Decoction plus Gardenia, Skullcap Root, Coptis Rhizome, and bamboo juice. This syndrome is often a combination of root deficiency and branch excess. Treat the branch in acute cases, and once the condition stabilizes, it is necessary to strengthen the spleen and tonify the kidneys to address the root.
3. Spleen Deficiency with Unconsolidation︰Excessive drooling, anorexia with reduced food intake, timid spirit and pale complexion, or abdominal distension and fullness, or loose stool and diarrhea, pale tongue with thin coating, weak pulse. This is due to constitutional spleen-stomach deficiency or injury from cold drinks; or parasitic infestation, which damages the spleen and stomach, leading to spleen qi deficiency and cold, resulting in the inability to distribute body fluids, and qi deficiency failing to retain essence, hence drooling from the corners of the mouth. Commonly seen in children, the saliva is clear and thin, continuously dripping all day, soaking clothes. Accompanied by pale complexion, timid spirit, abdominal distension and fullness, loose stool, and other signs of spleen deficiency. Treatment should focus on tonifying qi and strengthening the spleen, warming the middle to control drooling. Prescriptions include Six Gentlemen Decoction combined with Liquorice and Dried Ginger Decoction with modifications, or Wenspi Dan with modifications. Special attention should be paid to cases of spleen deficiency failing to astringe—do not mistake persistent drooling as a phlegm-drool disorder and blindly attack and eliminate phlegm-drool, leading to the error of depleting what is already deficient. As stated in *Youke Shimi*: "Infantile slobbering is also caused by spleen qi insufficiency, which fails to distribute body fluids. If the root is not treated by tonifying the middle and replenishing qi, but instead only removing phlegm-drool, though phlegm-drool is a pathological fluid, it is also attached to original qi. Excessive removal will lead to collapse." This should serve as a warning.
4. Spleen-stomach Heat Steaming︰Excessive salivation, oral pain or ulceration, dry mouth with a bitter taste, constipation, dark urine, irritability, reduced appetite, a red tongue tip with prickles or thorns, yellow or yellow greasy tongue coating, and a slippery rapid pulse. These symptoms often result from accumulated heat or excessive consumption of rich and fatty foods, leading to stomach fire flaring upward or excessive heart-stomach fire, which forces fluids to overflow from the mouth. Lingshu·Kouwen states: "When there is heat in the stomach... it causes excessive salivation." Common manifestations include oral ulcers, a red tongue texture with prickles on the tip or edges, or erosion of the lips and cheeks, accompanied by irritability, insomnia, constipation, and dark urine—signs of excess heat. Treatment should focus on clearing spleen-stomach excess heat, using formulas such as Stomach-Clearing Powder or Yellow-Draining Powder with modifications.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Dongyi Baojian．Internal Scenes Chapter: "The symptoms of the three worms all involve drooling from the mouth." "Infantile abdominal pain with clear water coming from the mouth is due to worm pain."
2. "Precious Books Collection．Miscellaneous Syndromes and Insights" "Although the spleen is resuscitated through the mouth, the body fluids originate from the kidneys. The rising of qi from the Foot Shaoyin intersects with the Yangming, and when the Wu and Gui combine, they can transform water. If the essence of grain does not ascend to interact with qi, then the evil water will instead rise along the Conception Vessel to the Lianquan, causing drooling. Only by supplementing the Foot Shaoyin to assist the rising of qi in the lower energizer, will the Conception Vessel become strong below and the Lianquan become clear above, thus the drooling will be internal and not external!"