The Importance of Saliva for Oral Hygiene The best weapon we use to fight decay is the saliva produced by the glands surrounding the mouth. Saliva is constituted of more than 99.5 percent water; the rest of the components of saliva include mucous, ions like sodium, potassium chloride, and various phosphates. All of these elements work together to offer buffers that help in regulating the PH in the oral cavity and creating enzymes that help in beginning the process of breaking down our food. Saliva’s most vital function is not only moistening the oral cavity that promotes the movement of food through the digestive system and speech but to fight enamel erosion that facilitates tooth decay. If the bacteria found in the mouth are not minimized and neutralized with the help of saliva, demineralization of the hard tissues, for example, enamel will occur causing progressive degradation of the tooth’s organic matter will follow. There are several factors which affect the production of saliva. Even though there are lots of elements that contribute to decreasing the production of saliva, it’s most times hard to isolate the problem stemming from one particular factor. Reasons like depression, mouth breathing, aging, and smoking are among the normal culprits that lead to a drier mouth. However, most times, the occurrence of dry mouth syndrome or xerostomia is recognized to be as a consequence of overall body causes rather than their local oral cavity problems. The most common reasons for xerostomia are using medications that decrease the production of saliva, therapeutic irradiation that is used to treat neck and head cancers and some autoimmune conditions. There are numerous medications that have the side effect of making the mouth dry. It is quite hard to find an aging adult that does not take more than one medication that deters the production of saliva. An autoimmune disease called Sjogren’s syndrome is known for the damage it creates to salivary glands. This syndrome is most times associated with the various rheumatoid diseases. Radiation therapy, used for the treatment of neck and head cancers most times damages salivary glands and halts or lowers salivary production. With many body triggers that result in dry mouth syndrome; folks must be adept in maximizing the resources available to increase salivary creation.
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Luckily, there are measures that one may take to increase the salivary circulation to replace oral secretions. Enough hydration is vital and should be assessed. An individual should follow good oral hygiene practices with daily brushing and flossing.
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One may purchase over the counter fluoride rinses that help in providing an extra barrier to help in protecting the teeth from the occurrence of decay. If radiation therapy is proposed to treat cancer; your dentist can create fluoride trays to guard the teeth during radiation therapy.