Little Known Facts about Saliva
It’s the wet stuff in your mouth, you know- saliva! Generally, we go throughout our day without a second thought about saliva. However, while we are living our day to day life, saliva is working hard to keep our mouth, digestion, and other things in our body functioning properly. Learn some little known facts about saliva.
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It Keeps Our Teeth and Gums Healthy
Just as the oil in our car keeps the engine lubricated, so saliva keeps our mouth lubricated. Without spit, our mouth would dry up, allowing bacteria, tooth decay, and infection to thrive.
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Essential to Digestion
When you take that first bite of food, have you ever noticed how saliva rushes into your mouth? It is because saliva helps us to eat. The high content of water in spit helps us to soften, swallow and eventually digest our food.
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Wounds in your Mouth to Heal Faster than on Any Other Part of the Body
Here are some other little known facts about saliva. When we suffer an injury in the mouth, proteins in saliva help the wound to heal quickly. Additionally, the humid temperature in the mouth assists cells in healing the wound.
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Saliva Flow is Reduced When We are Scared
One tends to get a dry mouth when they are nervous or in fear. This is because our saliva production is controlled by the nervous system!
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Saliva Can Be Tested for Disease
Dry mouth is not just caused by fear or nerves. In fact, constant dry mouth can also indicate ill health. Further, proteins in your spit can be screened for diseases, such as heart disease.
These little known facts about saliva make us appreciate our spit a little more! As you can see, saliva is essential to many of our bodily functions. It can also indicate health problems!