Do you know the mouth you are kissing?
There are twice as many microbes, bugs, or germs (whatever you want to call them) in your mouth than the earth’s population.
You will never get rid of them, and in fact, that would not be a good idea. The best you can do is to control them by brushing and flossing (I hate flossing!).
How do We Know?
Your mouth is a paradise for bugs. Just think about it!
It is always warm, there is a constant food supply, and moisture flows in regularly when we eat or drink. It is always moist and warm and has many wonderful surfaces for bugs to attach to and hide. Your teeth, your tongue, the skin on your cheeks—it is a mecca for microbes.
Some entrepreneurial scientists (or they were bored out of their brains) at Harvard University decided to determine the biomass (a fancy term for how much) of microbes in the mouth.
It is impossible to sit down and count them all one by one. Instead, they calculated by deduction.
They harvested all the plaque from every tooth in the mouth and found that it weighed about 10 mg on average. Next, they multiplied this by 20 to allow for the other surfaces in the mouth, such as your tongue and cheek skin, based on surface area. They also determined that I mg of biomass contains about 100 million microbes. So, 100 million x 20 mg = 20 billion, more than 2 x the world’s population, (estimated to be 8.2 billion).
What Do They Do?
Scientists are constantly discovering new species of microbes. At last estimate, there were over 700 different species.
We tend to associate microbes with bad things like disease and infection. While this is true, there are distinct differences between the types of microbes in a healthy mouth and an unhealthy mouth. Just like humans, microbes live in different areas. Some prefer to bind to teeth while others prefer the hustle and bustle of your tongue.
It is a constant war zone of battles between the villains and the good guys, with each type of bacteria doing what it does best. The good guys help to digest food and keep the bad ones at acceptable levels preventing them from causing decay and mouth infections.
The villains get together to cause plaque and decay. The complex interaction of acid production from sugars digested from our diet and matrix formation, leads to plaque.
Alliances are formed and broken on a regular basis.
A Window to Your Soul (Good or Bad)
We all know of situations where poor oral hygiene can lead to bad breath (scientifically known as halitosis), tooth decay, and gum inflammation but did you know that scientists have found strong links between oral health and overall health?
While this may be surprising, it is perfectly understandable. Your mouth is the entry point to your digestive system and your lungs. Poor oral health has been linked to endocarditis and cardiovascular diseases, pneumonia, certain eating disorders, and immune reactions.
There is so much we still must learn. Sporting a set of perfect pearly whites is not enough. One thing is certain: regular brushing, flossing, and checkups balanced with a healthy diet can prevent problems.
One More fact
One more fact about your mouth: your tongue is one of the favourite spots for microbes in your mouth. It’s like the Rolls-Royce of surfaces. That is why your doctor always wants to look at your tongue.
A white tongue can indicate poor oral hygiene due to a build-up of certain microbes. Your dentist will always tell you to brush your tongue when you brush your teeth to help dislodge these microbes from their warm and sheltered tongue surface.
Rinsing doesn’t work because the tongue’s surface is not smooth. It is very rough, with nice potholes for microbes to hide in.
So, make sure ‘you brush your teeth, Jeffery’ as the slogan says, suffer seeing the dentist regularly (sorry to all the dentists, but people hate seeing you) and maybe check who you are kissing.
Get them to poke out their tongue, to be on the safe side!
Till next time, thanks for reading
Calvin
