- Your body starts digesting food in your mouth, thanks to enzymes in your saliva that break down starches.
- Swallowing would be terribly uncomfortable without saliva to help us move our food down.
- You wouldn’t be able to taste your food if you didn’t have saliva. As food mixes with saliva, it carries it to the taste buds that are embedded on your tongue.
- Your body makes 4 – 8 cups of saliva every day! It is constantly flowing into your mouth and back down your throat, rinsing your teeth to help keep them clean. The only exception is that when you sleep you almost produce none.
- When you are relaxed, your mouth makes a more watery saliva then when you are stressed.
- Saliva has antimicrobial properties that deter germs, slow them down, and even kill them. This can help prevent colds and cavities.
- Minerals, such as calcium, can be found in your saliva, which help keep your teeth strong. When we eat or drink foods with fluoride, it will also be in our saliva.
- Saliva fights cavities! Your saliva can neutralize the cavity-inducing acid that bacteria make when they eat sugar in your mouth.
Your spit is pretty cool, but it can’t do all this great work without your help! Eat healthy, floss and brush so that your spit can do its job right!
