Features
Salute To Saliva
By Dr. Arles North
Jul 6, 2008 - 8:33:50 AM

What’s the difference between spit and saliva?  Depends who it belongs to. Your own saliva is precious as blood; other folks' spit is dangerous as a biologic hazard.  Yet, a little bit shared between close partners isn’t always bad.
   Saliva’s importance to good health is broad.  It serves as a protective barrier to teeth and gums, and digestion begins as it mixes with food during chewing.  Most people don’t realize how much saliva they swallow everyday — two to three pints — until saliva production slows and their mouth feels peculiar.  They don’t miss water ‘til the well runs dry.
   Diet may be the problem.  Spicy foods, hot weather, exercise mixed with not drinking enough liquids, can lead to dehydration.  Ever go to the movies and eat an entire bucket of popcorn by yourself?  Salt draws moisture out of mouth tissues, resulting in puckered cheeks.  Sloshing or rinsing plain water around the mouth can speed recovery.
   Radiation treatment slows output from salivary glands, which gradually become weaker with old age.  So many different medications cause dry mouth side effects that it would be easier to list only the drugs that don’t.  Check the warning labels.
   When saliva runs low it changes the oral chemistry, making it more acidic.  This allows cavity-causing germs to eat away tooth enamel faster, and gum disease to prosper.  People who wear false teeth need saliva too, especially for lubrication.  It reduces friction between dentures and gum ridges, cheeks and tongue — meaning fewer sore spots.
   There are friendly bacteria in saliva protecting against other germs.  Ever notice how animals lick their wounds?  Saliva can work as a disinfectant.  It’s a multi-purpose miracle product, like breast milk, with the same oh-so-affordable price tag.
   Imitation saliva is available at pharmacies.  Many resemble light cooking oil or thin pastes.  Natural saliva is 98 percent water combined with thicker, mucous saliva.  An alternative to commercial products is keeping a bottle or container of water handy, sipping often.  Good nutrition calls for drinking six to eight pints of water/liquid daily.
   Beverages enjoyed during meals make it easier to chew and swallow, and helps prevent food from sticking to teeth or bridgework.  Chewing “32 times before swallowing,” is probably over-doing it.  On the other hand, gulping food in a hurry may result in stomach ache or gas pain.  Slow down and enjoy your meals, among the day’s few high points.  Be glad you’re not a cow munching the same cud over and over.
   Chewing gum after meals will stimulate saliva flow and can help remove tiny food particles stuck between teeth.  However, too much chewing, (like too much clenching jaws or gritting teeth), can overwork the jaw muscles.  Sugar free hard candy also stimulates saliva, without the muscle activity, but like gum, it can leave a sticky residue on teeth.
   Snuff, spit or chewing tobacco will boost saliva output, but may also increase blood pressure and damage soft tissues around teeth.  Tobacco is nature’s last resort for increasing saliva production.
   During sleep, saliva glands slow way down and nearly stop, which means less protective saliva is available.  This makes brushing and flossing right before bed the most important time to brush.
   Good news: recently scientists came up with new diagnostic tests to detect potential cancers of the head and neck as well as breast cancer, simply by examining saliva samples.  Just spit in a jar … sounds easier than donating other bodily specimens.
   Back to the opening bit about sharing spit between partners.   When you trust the other person enough to use their toothbrush, it’s probably ok.

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