Saliva contains enzymes that can dissolve bacteria, which can eliminate hemolytic streptococcus, typhoid Bacillus, Escherichia coli and staphylococcus in saliva. In addition, salivary gland corpuscles also have phagocytosis function. Therefore, saliva has the functions of sterilization and oral cleaning. Usually bacteria and some harmful substances do not easily pass through the mouth.
Because human saliva contains many substances beneficial to human health, it is a good way to keep in good health to swallow your saliva every day. Saliva contains amylase, lysozyme, peroxidase, mucin, phospholipids, phosphoprotein amino acids, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and other substances, which have the functions of digesting food, sterilizing, resisting bacteria and protecting gastric mucosa. Saliva also contains a hormone that can keep people young. This hormone is very effective in strengthening people's muscles, cartilage, bones, muscle tubes and teeth. Saliva growth factor contained in saliva can promote the growth and division of human cells and protect the elasticity of skin.
Mental factors have a great influence on saliva secretion. For example, people can't help drooling when they see something delicious, which is a normal physiological phenomenon. However, due to their own constitution, some people's salivary glands are too sensitive to the stimulation of mental factors. They can't help drooling when they see someone or something they particularly like. When they are nervous or bored, their saliva will increase, and their mouths will be full of saliva in a few minutes or even seconds. At this time, saliva is no longer a "golden liquid", but affects people's normal social interaction, life and study.
The excitement of autonomic nervous activity that dominates salivary glands is the direct cause of excessive saliva. Due to the discomfort of excessive saliva secretion, patients pay too much attention to their saliva subjectively. Over time, some patients even suffer from mild obsessive-compulsive disorder. They usually unconsciously pay attention to the saliva secretion of themselves and others, and feel that their faces will be uncomfortable. Moreover, when people are nervous, saliva will increase and thoughts will often spin on saliva. This behavior has caused great pain to patients, although it is not a big problem. At this time, patients can't adjust themselves. Only with the help of drugs can they adjust their mental state and saliva secretion to a normal state. As long as the patient's saliva secretion is normal, it will no longer be affected by it, and the spirit and psychology will return to normal.
In addition to some basic functions of saliva to human body, scientists have found that saliva has "special functions" in recent years. The composition of saliva is similar to that of blood, and the abnormal composition of saliva can be used for the diagnosis of diseases. For example, saliva contains an "immunoglobulin", which is relatively stable in normal people, while in patients with bacterial infectious dental diseases, the immunoglobulin content will decrease, while in patients with cholera, the content will increase. Therefore, the immune status of the intestine can be reflected by detecting immunoglobulin in saliva. Also, for people with renal insufficiency, the urea content in saliva will increase significantly, which provides a convenient and important sign for the diagnosis of uremia.
Saliva can not only help people diagnose diseases, but also monitor patients' drug dosage. After taking the drug, the saliva of the patient is collected within a certain period of time, and the concentration of the drug in the blood can be known through laboratory analysis. More interestingly, if some ingredients are extracted from saliva, they can also resist carcinogens. It is reported that a Japanese professor did an experiment while studying some common carcinogens. He treated carcinogens with human saliva and then acted on bacteria, and found that bacterial mutations decreased. Therefore, he suggested that if food can be chewed in the mouth for more than 30 seconds, the carcinogens that may exist in food can be basically eliminated.