"HAVE A COKE AND A SMILE"
What’s so special about COCA-COLA?
In 1886, Atlanta pharmacist Dr. John Pemberton created Coca-Cola. It sold for 5 cents/glass. Dr. Pemberton died in 1888 and the bottling rights sold to 3 entrepreneurs for ONLY $1 and it was these 3 men that made Coca-cola available worldwide to what it is today. In the 1970’s Coca cola’s advertising slogans took off. My personal favorite is the 1979 advertising campaign “Have a Coke and a Smile”.
So what’s all the talk about this american classic soda? While we all may enjoy a coke from time to time, I want to especially highlight a very important fact. We make about a coke bottle worth of SALIVA everyday. That’s about 2L or a coke bottle worth of saliva. That’s a lot of saliva you may think. But it is so important to maintaining a healthy mouth.
Saliva is 94-99% WATER. The rest contains enzymes, immunoglobulins, proteins, etc. Saliva protects the teeth and protects the surrounding oral tissues. Without a proper amount of saliva, you are more susceptible to cavities and infections of the mouth.
We see many patients every day that don’t make a lot of SALIVA. Sometimes this is because they are STRESSED or they TAKE CERTAIN MEDICATIONS for either blood pressure, anxiety, depression, allergies, diabetes, etc. In either case, it’s important to recognize if you don’t make enough saliva. Sometimes we need to prescribe medications to increase their saliva production. But most times, patients can use at home remedies.
AT HOME REMEDIES INCLUDE *SUGARLESS CANDIES, *FREQUENT WATER DRINKING, *VISUAL STIMULATIONS, *AVOID DRY, HARD, STICKY, and ACIDIC FOODS, *AVOID EXCESS CAFFEINE AND ALCOHOL *USE MOUTH MOISTURIZERS LIKE BIOTENE *USE HUMIDIFIERS WHILE SLEEPING
REFERENCES: Almeida, Patricia et al. “Saliva Composition and Functions: A Comprehensive Review”. TheJCDP. Vol 9: 3. 5/1/2008. http://jada.ada.org/article/S0002-8177(15)01103-4/fulltext
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