The very thought of saliva may make you feel a bit yuck. But, this yuck saliva serves more than just one purpose. It helps maintain sound oral health and keeps numerous oral diseases at bay.
Functions of saliva
Saliva is much more important for oral health than what you think. Here are some of the functions that saliva has to perform.
* It helps maintain the health of the tissues of the mouth.
* Saliva also works as the body's natural mechanism to prevent tooth decay. It returns the lost minerals to the tooth and prevents tooth decay.
* Saliva flushes any waste or microorganisms that may be sticking to the mouth and helps maintain oral health.
* In many cases, saliva is used diagnostically to detect diseases. Since saliva is similar to blood, it can help a great deal in diagnosing various diseases. Several viral infections including HIV can be diagnosed using salivary diagnostic tests.
* Saliva contains various minerals that are essential to maintain the surface of the enamel. This helps prevents Caries.
* It also provides phosphate and calcium ions to the tooth surface, which aids in enamel protection.
* Saliva works as the natural immune system of the mouth. It contains numerous immunoproteins that help protect the mouth. These immunoproteins cause the bacteria to get clubbed together and flush them from the mouth. Also, saliva weakens the cell walls of these microorganisms.
* Certain active immunproteins present in the saliva offer protection against gingivitis.
Maintaining a healthy salivary flow
The salivary flow in the mouth continues to be altered each day. There are several factors that are responsible for the same. One of them is excessive consumption of carbohydrates. These carbohydrates do not get dissolved in the saliva, which blocks salivary flow.
Use of several medications can also hamper the flow of the saliva. There are several prescription as well as non prescription medications that can lead to dryness of the mouth. Amidst various other prescription medications, it is antibiotics that cause maximum dryness of the mouth. Some systemic problems like Sjogern's syndrome may also hamper the flow of saliva.
Lack of saliva in the mouth or reduced salivary flow in the mouth causes dryness in the mouth. Chronic reduction of salivary flow leads to Xerostomia. This is characterized by difficulty in chewing, swallowing and even speaking. It can even lead to altering of taste.
Thus, it only makes sense if you make conscious effort to maintain the salivary flow. One of the best ways to maintain the flow of saliva is chewing. Chewing causes compression of salivary glands, which in turn releases the saliva. You can seek help of a chewing gum for this purpose.
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