When you start thinking about the saliva in your mouth, you may be able to come up with some ideas regarding why it’s there. However, you may not necessarily grasp just how important this liquid is when it comes to helping protect your oral health and additional functions of your body. Let’s start off with some basic information that will allow you to take a look at your oral moisture in a whole new light!
It Swishes Through Your Mouth
We commonly suggest that you rinse with water or drink water after you eat. We encourage you to brush and floss. Why do we do this? Well, because it’s very important that you displace plaque from your teeth (and anything else that bacteria might cling to, such as food). What you might not realize is that saliva formation is there to naturally provide some oral health protection on your behalf. It swishes into your mouth and essentially rinses your teeth and other oral tissues, consistently removing bacteria throughout the day. This prevents all manner of problems, including decay and even bad breath.
It Helps You Eat
You might not notice that saliva is essential in allowing you to eat, digest your food, and remain nourished! Think about this for a moment: When you try to eat something extremely dry, it takes a while to break it down into something you can swallow. You may even follow it with some water to help it go down more easily. This is another function of saliva. It helps to moisten and break down the foods you eat, so you can swallow them and keep not only your oral health in good shape but your body, too! How about that?
