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Purpose of Saliva and How It Benefits Your Mouth


Posted on 8/10/2020 by Pacific Oral and Facial Surgery Center
Purpose of Saliva and How It Benefits Your MouthSaliva is essential to our overall health. Not only does it help maintain healthy teeth and gums, but it also helps to keep dentures securely in place, keep our mouths clean, and helps our bodies to digest food. But what happens if our mouth isn't creating enough saliva? We will discuss the purpose of saliva and how it helps to keep our oral health in check.

What is Saliva?


We have a few salivary glands within our mouths that are located inside each cheek, near the front teeth, and at the bottom of our mouth. These salivary glands are what produce saliva. Saliva is a clear liquid and is made up of water, proteins, and minerals. Our mouth creates around 2-4 pints of saliva each day.

What is the Purpose of Saliva?


Saliva's primary function is to keep your mouth and body healthy, by preventing dental problems and helping the body digest food. Saliva contains proteins and minerals that protect your mouth against decay and gum disease. It also helps to prevent bad breath, while keeping the mouth moist.

So, what happens if we don't produce enough saliva? The mouth will quickly become dry and this will lead to discomfort and swelling. This type of environment is great for germ breeding, as they thrive. If you suffer from dry mouth you are at risk of tooth decay and gum disease because saliva keeps teeth protected by helping to clear food particles from teeth.

We create saliva when we chew food and sucking on hard candy can also help increase saliva production. If you experience a dry mouth, it is recommended to drink water more frequently and to suck on sugarless hard candy to help saliva production. If you are suffering from the effects of dry mouth, call our office today to book a routine dental appointment.
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Pacific Oral and Facial Surgery Center, 1133 E Stanley Blvd #215, Livermore, CA 94550 • 925-290-7727 • pacificofs.com • 11/12/2024 • Page Terms:oral surgeon Livermore •