Importance of Saliva

When it comes to oral health, one of the most essential elements for a healthy mouth is something we barely notice: saliva. This watery substance does far more than just keep your mouth moist—it is a cornerstone of oral and overall health.

It’s All About Saliva

Healthy saliva remains the most effective agent for remineralizing teeth and maintaining a balanced oral environment. While there are countless rinses and pastes advertised to strengthen enamel, nothing compares to the power of your own saliva.

Saliva is a fluid secreted by the salivary glands in your mouth. While it's about 99% water, the remaining 1%—made up of proteins, enzymes, and electrolytes—is where the magic happens. This small but powerful portion enables saliva to perform a variety of essential functions:

• Neutralizing Acids – It helps maintain a neutral pH in the mouth, countering the acids from food and drinks that erode enamel.
• Delivering Minerals – It’s supersaturated with calcium and phosphate, the two minerals that support the natural process of remineralization, which helps maintain strong teeth.
• Building Oral Biofilm – It provides the matrix for a protective biofilm, a thin layer of healthy bacteria that offers protection from plaque-forming bacteria and acid erosion.
• Washing Away Debris – It helps clear out food particles, reducing the fuel available for unwanted bacteria.
• Providing Comfort and Function – It keeps the mouth moist, allowing for comfortable speaking, and it facilitates chewing and swallowing.

The flow rate of saliva varies from hour to hour and from person to person, and its mineral and protein content is influenced by stress, hormonal balance, blood flow, diet, posture, and digestive health. Someone with copious amounts of mineral-rich, protein-rich, and alkaline saliva may manage to achieve oral health with apparent ease. On the other hand, anyone with poor saliva flow or who has acidic saliva will need to be especially careful about their dietary and lifestyle habits.

Factors That Impact Saliva

Almost everything we consume impacts the quality and quantity of our saliva. Food and drinks mix with saliva, influencing its ability to protect our teeth. Even water dilutes saliva and makes it thinner and less able to support tooth health. The frequency of eating and drinking is even more critical than the food itself, as constant snacking or sipping doesn't give saliva a chance to do its job.

Although our dietary selection contributes to mouth health, it is not the actual pieces of food, but rather food particles dissolved in saliva that flow around our mouth that affect our mouth ecology positively or negatively. This means that rather than food being the enemy, it is liquids from food dissolution that influence mouth health, from sugars dissolved in saliva to the acidity of sugarless drinks and sometimes even plain water.

Certain habits and conditions can reduce saliva production or its effectiveness, such as:

• Frequent snacking or sipping
• Smoking or vaping
• Wearing braces or night guards
• Medications that cause dry mouth
• Hormonal changes or stress

The Science of Remineralization

Remineralization is a natural, ongoing process where saliva restores lost minerals to the tooth enamel. When more minerals are deposited than lost, enamel strengthens, tooth health improves, and teeth become whiter. 

The key to success? A healthy, alkaline saliva—ideally with a pH around 7.4—and a mouth environment that supports healing.

The Role of Saliva pH

Saliva's acidity, or pH, is a critical marker of its health-promoting potential. Mouth pH can be easily tested with pH litmus testing strips. The pH scale ranges from 0 (most acidic) to 14 (most alkaline), with 7 being neutral. Healthy saliva ideally has a pH of 7.4. However, eating and drinking can drastically lower pH levels, sometimes dipping to acidic levels of 2 to 4. When saliva pH falls below 6, it creates an acidic environment that can pull minerals from tooth enamel.

No one has a fixed salivary pH for life, and if today you test and find you have a neutral pH, this does not guarantee it will remain neutral throughout the night or for the rest of your life.

Boosting Saliva with Xylitol

Xylitol is a natural sweetener with a powerful oral health benefit: it's hygroscopic, meaning it attracts water and stimulates saliva flow. When you chew or suck on pure xylitol mints or gum, it pulls mineral-rich saliva from small glands in the roof of your mouth that help neutralize acids and strengthen tooth enamel.

Final Thoughts

Mouth health improves when two key conditions are met:

• Enamel breakdown is minimized by reducing acid damage and dryness.
• Mineral loss is quickly replenished.

And your own saliva is the key! By supporting your saliva's flow, composition, and pH, you give your mouth the best chance to thrive. So the next time you feel your mouth water, know that it's your body hard at work keeping your smile strong.