{"id":266,"date":"2013-07-30T07:19:14","date_gmt":"2013-07-30T07:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.leslatnerdds.com\/?p=266"},"modified":"2026-09-07T20:49:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T20:49:44","slug":"how-saliva-protects-your-smile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leslatnerdds.com\/blog\/how-saliva-protects-your-smile\/","title":{"rendered":"How Saliva Protects Your Smile"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.leslatnerdds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Young-Smile2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.leslatnerdds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Young-Smile2-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"general dentistry\" class=\"wp-image-173\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.5;width:300px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.leslatnerdds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Young-Smile2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.leslatnerdds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Young-Smile2-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As we indicated in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leslatnerdds.com\/blog\/improving-your-oral-health-with-food\/\" target=\"_blank\">our last post<\/a>, saliva can play an important role in protecting teeth from decay. Specifically, saliva helps neutralize the acid produced by mouth bacteria. But that\u2019s not all it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Saliva Does to Keep Your Smile Healthy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saliva is 99% water, and water\u2014as we said last time\u2014helps keep teeth clean. The other 1% of saliva is made up of electrolytes, mucus, glycoproteins, enzymes, and antibacterial compounds. As you eat, saliva breaks down food particles around teeth and offers your enamel special protection. What\u2019s more, because saliva contains calcium and phosphates, it helps with the re-mineralization process, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s because of saliva\u2019s benefits to oral health that dentists will recommend chewing gum after a meal. Not only will it help you clean your teeth, but it will prevent bacteria from getting out of control and creating destructive acid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ready to Schedule an Appointment?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Want to know more about how saliva can help you support your oral health? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leslatnerdds.com\/contact.html\">Call<\/a> <b>Westside Dental Associates<\/b> today for an appointment with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leslatnerdds.com\/meet-dr-latner.html\">Dr. Latner<\/a>. We provide great general, cosmetic, and restorative care for patients in and around <b>Los Angeles<\/b>,\u00a0<b>Santa Monica<\/b>,\u00a0<b>Beverly Hills<\/b>,\u00a0<b>West LA<\/b>,\u00a0and <b>Mar Vista<\/b>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As we indicated in our last post, saliva can play an important role in protecting teeth from decay. Specifically, saliva helps neutralize the acid produced by mouth bacteria. But that\u2019s not all it does. What Saliva Does to Keep Your Smile Healthy Saliva is 99% water, and water\u2014as we said last time\u2014helps keep teeth clean. The other 1% of saliva is made up of electrolytes, mucus, glycoproteins, enzymes, and antibacterial compounds. As you eat, saliva breaks down food particles around teeth and offers your enamel special protection. What\u2019s more, because saliva contains calcium and phosphates, it helps with the re-mineralization process, too. It\u2019s because of saliva\u2019s benefits to oral health that dentists will recommend chewing [&hellip;] <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leslatnerdds.com\/blog\/how-saliva-protects-your-smile\/\">(Read More)<\/a>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[57,44,27,25,87,54,104,86,18],"class_list":["post-266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-dentistry-2","tag-beverly-hills","tag-dr-les-latner","tag-general-dentistry","tag-los-angeles","tag-mar-vista","tag-santa-monica","tag-west","tag-west-la","tag-westside-dental-associates"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Saliva Protects Your Smile - Westside Dental Associates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Did you know that saliva plays an essential role in protecting your teeth and gums? Learn how in this blog post!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leslatnerdds.com\/blog\/how-saliva-protects-your-smile\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"How Saliva Protects Your Smile - Westside Dental Associates\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Did you know that saliva plays an essential role in protecting your teeth and gums? 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