Why do we need saliva?

Saliva is something that a lot of people don’t realize that we need. If you don’t have enough saliva, you can put yourself at risk for gm disease and tooth decay. But, why is that? What does saliva do?

Well, you’re about to find out.

Saliva is a means for us to digest food and make sure that it’s fully broken down as it enters the stomach. Saliva also is used to help clear out some of the contaminants in the mouth after we eat food. When we eat something, sugars start to form, and that sugar, is the food for a lot of bacteria that’s in our mouths.  Bacteria will feed n it, and it’ll cause the teeth to slowly break down.

This is of course, how tooth decay, cavities, and much more happens. The bacteria ca get into your gums, creating pockets, and that of course is filled with so; me nasty bacteria.  This is why gum disease is such a problem for many people, since of course, with that nasty bacteria in place, it’s no wonder that people are having trouble with a lot of this.

But, here’s the thing: saliva is important because it’ll get rid of that nasty bacteria.  It’ll help clean out all of the contaminants, so that the bacteria doesn’t have any food for them to eat.  From there, it also will help form a barrier between the food particles and your teeth, and in many cases, helps us with digesting food as well.

Saliva is very important, and of course without it, it creates a dry mouth, which of course puts you at a lot of risk for tooth decay, and other problems.  This is something more and more people need to be aware of, and it’s something that a lot of patients don’t really focus on.

So, with that being said, what can you do to help with providing more saliva in your mouth? Well, some of us naturally have a lot of saliva, we just don’t really pay enough attention. But, if you notice that your mouth is pretty dry after you’ve eaten food, or if you notice that you’re dealing with more tooth decay than usual, there are a few things that you can do.

First, is drink some water. Water is a great way to wash away most of the debris that’s in the mouth, which of course also includes the nasty food particles that are used by your bacteria.  If you don’t’ drink water after you’ve eaten already, especially sugary foods, then please do this. this alone will help with heightening saliva production.

If you’re brushing your teeth after you eat, please wait about thirty or so minutes, that’s because, when you brush around right after you eat, you’re spreading the saliva around a whole lot more, and of course that defeats the purpose of the saliva.

Finally, if you’re not having something after you eat to help with saliva production, you can do that.  Chewing gum for example is one of the key ways to help with this. another big thing that you can do, is suck on something that’ll help wit this.  usually though, chewing gum is the perfect thing, since it’ll help with getting some of those stuck particles out. However, make sure it’s sugar-free gum.

With a lot of people, it is important to make sure that you take care of your teeth and improve your oral health. You can do that by brushing your teeth more and taking care of your oral health early on before things might get worse.