Exploring the role of saliva in wound healing

Exploring the Role of Saliva in Wound Healing Saliva was always known to be a healing agent, but the extent of its role in healing oral wounds has only been studied recently.

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The challenges involved in wound care are such that innovation is always a necessity to win the battle against microorganisms. That’s why advanced and customized wound EMR is essential, since it helps in timely and efficient documentation of the chronic wound. That contributes to timely treatment and modifications to the treatment program as and when required.

Technology and research in wound care need to explore every available possibility out there. If you haven’t noticed, wounds and ulcers in your mouth heal faster. Why’s that? It’s a concept that’s been around in oriental and unconventional medicine for centuries – saliva has healing properties. Saliva contains 99% water, enzymes and proteins along with antimicrobial properties that make it a healing agent as well. It also functions as an oral lubricant to aid in speech and digestion.

Saliva Is Antimicrobial and a Powerful Healing Agent Saliva has loads of antimicrobial properties. It also contains leptin, histatin, lysophosphatidic acid and hyaluronan, all of which are epidermal growth factors promoting wound healing. Saliva also contains opiorphin with analgesic effects. Salivary proteins such as lysozyme can cause disruption of bacterial cell wall and also neutralize some viruses.

But just how much of a role is played by saliva in wound healing was proved by a recent study.

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The FASEB-published Study In The FASEB Journal, a study has been published which explores the mechanism behind wounds in the mouth. It specifically examines the role played by salivary peptide histatin-1 on the formation of blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis. Blood vessel formation is important for ensuring efficient wound healing. Histatin-1 also contributes to cell migration and cell adhesion – other processes that contribute to the healing process.

With these discoveries into the specific role of saliva in the healing process, the differences between the healing of skin wounds and oral wounds can be understood better. Eventually, this could ensure better approaches are designed for improving wound healing in not only oral tissues but also in other tissues from the body, according to the Institute for Research in Dental Sciences, University of Chile’s Dr. Vicente A. Torres.

The research involved three aspects: ➢ The endothelial aspect, which involved studying the formation of blood vessels and cells in culture ➢ Studying chicken embryos for animal models ➢ Studying saliva samples of healthy donors

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Research Opens Doors to More Research Studying these aspects made it clear that histatin-1 and saliva can increase the formation of blood vessels. So now, the focus shifts to using histatin-1 and saliva for creating implants and other materials to facilitate wound healing in other parts of the body as well. There is significant opportunity here for therapeutic advancement, according to The FASEB Journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Thoru Pederson.

Further research is sure to be conducted to come up with a wound treatment that incorporates the healing properties of saliva. Technology has already introduced the wound EMR, bringing about significant improvements in chronic wound care protocols.

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