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With the way dentists and hygienists are always sucking saliva away or blowing your teeth dry, you’d think we had something against it. But the truth is that saliva is very beneficial to your overall and oral health. Here are a few facts about how saliva protects your smile that you may not already know.
Saliva does more than keep your mouth moist and lubricate your food for easy swallowing, it actually starts the digestion process. Saliva contains a type of enzyme called amylase that breaks down the starch in foods into sugars so they can be more easily digested. This is why foods that contain a lot of starch, such as potatoes, may get a slightly sweet flavor as they’re chewed.
Saliva holds on to minerals that you get from what you eat and drink and helps distribute these minerals to your teeth. In particular, saliva can hold on the fluoride from your diet and from your toothpaste or mouthwash. This is one reason you shouldn’t rinse with water for at least 30 minutes after brushing! You would be washing away or diluting that fluoride-filled saliva. The minerals in your saliva can help rebuild damage to your teeth, such as the very earliest stages of a cavity.
We produce saliva continuously when we’re awake and swallow it regularly. This may seem like just a gross unnecessary quirk of being human, but it actually does serve a purpose. Your saliva constantly washes your mouth, helping to remove food debris that may be stuck to your teeth and gums. Chewing gum after eating is beneficial to your teeth not because of any particular quality of the gum, but because the chewing action and the flavors stimulate your salivary glands, helping to cleanse your mouth.
Saliva is an essential part of the mechanism by which you taste the flavors in your food. Your taste buds need a liquid between them and your food in order for the flavor molecules to bind to the taste buds’ chemical receptors. Without this liquid medium between them, the flavor “message” can’t get through. For a great demonstration of this process, try this experiment. Pat your tongue dry with a towel then try eat a dry food such as crackers or cookies. Then, take another taste after re-moistening your mouth with water. Big difference, right?
As dental professionals, it should be no surprise that we find teeth fascinating. Human teeth come in so many different shapes, sizes and colors that it makes our job of keeping them healthy and beautiful an art as much as a science. But human teeth aren’t the only ones that are interesting. The animal kingdom is full of fascinating teeth and here are a few amazing examples.
Other than big ears, prominent front teeth may be the most iconic feature of rabbits. These big teeth aren’t just adorable and endearing, they’re important tools. Rabbits are herbivores, meaning their diet consists only of plants. Many plants are very fibrous and require sharp, strong teeth for cutting and chewing. If you ate like a rabbit, your teeth would get worn down in no time, and the same is true of rabbit teeth. The difference is, unlike human teeth, rabbit teeth grow continuously to compensate for their tough diet.
These constantly regenerating teeth can be a problem for domesticated rabbits, though. Pet rabbits who eat too many processed pellets and not enough fibrous food like hay and vegetables can end up with overgrown teeth. When the teeth get to big and long, they don’t fit together right and can cause lots of problems for the rabbits health.
In most mammals, tusks are elongated canine teeth. An elephant’s tusks are actually its incisors, or two front teeth. Tusks and molars are the only two types of teeth that adult elephants have (humans have five types). Instead of one set of baby teeth and one set of adult teeth, an elephants molars are replaced throughout their lifetime, up to six times total.
Just like people are left or right-handed, elephants show a preference for one of their tusks and use it more often. You can tell whether an elephant is left or right-tusked by the shape: the dominant tusk tends to be shorter and more rounded.
Elephants use their tusks for defense, in mating displays (when males battle), and as tools for digging, marking trees, and moving things in their environment. Just like rabbit teeth, an elephants tusks never stop growing and gain about 17 cm in length every year.
Narwhals are a unique species of toothed whale that lives in the arctic and are often called “unicorns of the sea” because of their long spiral-textured tusk that resembles a mythical unicorn horn. Like tusks in other animals, the narwhal tusk is actually an elongated front tooth and it protrudes through the top lip as opposed to under it.
Several things make the narwhal tusk unique. Unlike human teeth that have hard enamel on the outside and soft dentin on the inside, narwhal tusks are softer outside and harder at the core. In contrast to other tusked animals like walruses and elephants, narwhals usually only have one tusk. Two-tusked narwhals do exist but are very rare. They also are the only straight tusk in the animal kingdom. And lastly, we don’t know what narwhal tusks are for. Scientists think it might have to do with attracting a mate or detecting water temperature and pressure, but more studies need to be done to find out.
A clean, white, and healthy smile can be considered a status symbol: a sign of someone who has excellent habits, an excellent dentist, or both. But what about the tool that gets you there? Would you invest in a luxury toothbrush?
In case you’re tempted, we’ve scoured the web for the most exceptional non-electric toothbrushes that you can buy for $12 or a lot more!
If you replace your toothbrush as often as your dentist recommends, you should be going through at least four toothbrushes a year. Some people saw the environmental impact of this and decided to make a change. The Boie toothbrush uses a BPA-free reusable handle with replaceable rubber bristle heads. They claim the brush lasts twice as long as a standard toothbrush and it’s recyclable, which cuts down on waste and environmental impact.
Chrome isn’t just for your car anymore! If you’re looking for a more glamorous oral hygiene experience, the German home accessories company Decor Walther makes a chrome-plated toothbrush. This brush is actually a regular plastic brush with a metallic finish and doesn’t seem to have any health-related claims to fame. But if a blingy brush with make you brush more often, we’re all for it!
The earliest toothbrushes were made from bone and animal bristles as far back as the 1700s, and some manufacturers are trying to bring naturally-sourced materials back to dental hygiene. French company Buly makes toothbrushes with silk or badger bristles embedding in tortoiseshell-look acetate handles. Italian company Koh-i-Noor also makes badger bristle toothbrushes, but we’re not sure we can approve of their “very hard” boar bristle toothbrushes. Always opt for soft bristles to protect your enamel, whether natural or nylon!
If you’re looking to make a fashion statement while banishing tooth decay it won’t come cheap. Lifestyle designer Charles Darius offers toothbrushes in silver, black rhodium, gold plate, and 18kt solid gold. These brushes start at $390, but thankfully that’s just for the handle. To trim down waste (and cost!), the toothbrushes use disposable heads crafted from sustainable bamboo.
Note: We’re not endorsing any of the toothbrushes mentioned in this post, as not all of them have been tested by the ADA. We just wanted to share some interesting and surprising products with our patients.
No matter how much you spend on your toothbrush, the best toothbrush according to any dentist, is the one you use properly and frequently. A $4 toothbrush can be just as good as a $4,000 one, as long as you brush for a full 2 minutes twice a day. Brushing with good technique and attention to detail is the key to preventing tooth decay and gum disease and keeping your teeth white. Used correctly, any toothbrush is worth its weight in gold!
