Introduction:
Saliva is a secretion made from the salivary glands located around the oral cavity. There are three types of such glands and Submandibular glands contribute to at least 70% of the total salivary secretions whereas the Parotids only contribute to about 25%. Even though the secretion from the third salivary gland, which is the Sublingual gland, is smaller in amount, its consistency is much thicker than the secretions from other glands.
Initiation of salivation:
The secretions from these glands varies according to the sensitizers which are available and thus will increase as we start to eat foods, smell foods or even think about foods. But, throughout our life, there will be a certain amount of saliva being secreted in order to keep the oral cavity moist.
Due to its presence in almost all the time, we tend to neglect the importance of this secretion in our day to day living. Thus, this article will shed light to an aspect we all should be familiar; the functions of the saliva, in order to understand how to optimize our bodily functions.
Functions of the saliva:
1. Digestion
The enzymatic digestion of the food particles start from the oral cavity itself. This is possible due to the presence of enzyme amylase and salivary lipase. Both these enzymes will act on the moist and mechanically broken down cooked food particles namely starch and fats respectively.
Therefore, in order to initiate the digestive process, adequate amounts of saliva need to be present in the oral cavity and chewing or mixing the foods within the mouth will facilitate this process rather than swallowing the foods in a hurry.
2. Swallowing
The moistening nature of the saliva will allow the food to be made into a bolus and thus lubricate the walls of the oral cavity and pharynx in easily swallowing the food bolus. When a person secretes lesser amounts of saliva, he or she may have to take additional water to push the food particles into the stomach.
3. Antimicrobial
Saliva will contain inherent properties of antimicrobial agents and thus can act to prevent the pathogenic organisms from colonizing the oral cavity. Researchers have found certain antimicrobial elements such as peroxidase and lysosyme along with several other such agents as constituting the saliva.
4. Hormonal
Saliva contains the hormone ‘Gustin’ which will facilitate the development of taste buds in the tongue. Therefore, in its absence, people will not be able to comprehend the tastes as it is.
These are some of the commonest as well as the most important of the functions performed by saliva and its physiological value is still under investigations. In future, we might identify many other functions which are provided by the saliva.
