Kissing and oral health
Kisses have numerous effects on the body, for example, we can help determine if a couple is an ideal through certain chemical compounds containing the saliva.
When we kiss, we convey feelings like passion, love, and … bacteria. In particular, one study has shown that in an intimate kiss (defined as a kiss contact between the languages of the participants) 10 seconds long 80 million bacteria are exchanged between the mouths of the participants.
In the mouth there are over 700 different species of bacteria, which also vary in individuals, both quantitatively and qualitatively: that is, the oral bacterial population of each individual is a priori only.
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However, during the course of this study further observed that couples tend to have a bacterial population in the same language between unrelated individuals, being this similarity even more pronounced in those couples kissing, at least, 9 times a day. This means that in addition to exchanging bacteria when to kiss, they are on the lingual surfaces colonize a place long-term. In the saliva, this similarity is not so evident for long periods, because you have to keep in mind that constantly produce and swallow spit, so the salivary microbiota is “shared” temporarily.
The study data show that the higher the frequency of intimate kisses, greater similarities are found in the oral microbiota, particularly in saliva (as we mentioned, temporarily. At least half of 9 kisses daily are required to obtain a similarity than 50% in saliva, while the effect of a single kiss is limited.
Therefore, identifying the factors that may determine the timing and permanence of the colonizing bacteria in the mouth may help develop new strategies to prevent or cure oral infections.
Moreover, kiss causes various benefits to the human body, particularly important being stimulation level buccal saliva production.
This causes increased saliva helps balance the pH, if necessary, to avoid long periods of demineralization of teeth, thereby protecting against tooth decay, while the rematerialized by providing ions found suspended in saliva.
Saliva also regulates the presence of bacteria in the mouth, thus contributing to the reduction of halitosis, which in turn, if it is present, may involve actions such as kissing.