Accurate Diagnosis
One of the practical aspects saliva offers is evaporative cooling. This is not now so vital to humans, as we evolved millions of sweat glands.
The majority of other functions do still support life’s needs. How salivary glands work is essentially about what they do for us, when they are not working correctly, we can miss out on:
- General cleaning of teeth, or gums and prevention of tooth decay.
- Lubricating the passage of food and preventing internal abrasions.
- Breaking down what we eat, or drink, initially and in the stomach.
- Making food suitably soluble and open to stimulate our taste buds.
- Preventing microbial growth and keeping a balanced internal system.
Each action carefully controlled by systems which have developed over millions of years, to provide essential support we barely notice.
Unseen Processes
Whatever sets your mouth watering, this feels a simple, natural process. The reality is a mosaic of chemical actions and organic tissues working together, to give you the protection, or assistance your body requires.
Although there are a small number of main glands, they are built from vast numbers of secreting cells, with a complex, small duct system feeding delivery ducts.
Within the ducts, the composition of saliva can change from the formula created by the secreting cells. A continuous process, to achieve the balance of bicarbonate, phosphates and sodium your body needs to function.
The balanced system evolution has given us is a minor miracle. This is still not too hard to put out of sync, through crystallized saliva deposits, cysts, growths, or infections.
So if you have a problem, please don’t feel alone. Salivary gland treatment is however an established, science and with professional care, restoring good function is almost always possible.
