Review The functions of human saliva: A review sponsored by the World Workshop on Oral Medicine VI C. Dawes a, * , A.M.L. Pedersen b , A. Villa c,d , J. Ekstro ¨m e , G.B. Proctor f , A. Vissink g , D. Aframian h , R. McGowan i , A. Aliko j,1 , N. Narayana k , Y.W. Sia l , R.K. Joshi m , S.B. Jensen b , A.R. Kerr n,i , A. Wolff o a Department of Oral Biology, University of Manitoba, Canada b Department of Odontology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark c Division of Oral Medicine and Dentistry, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, USA d Department of Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, USA e Department of Pharmacology, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden f Dental Institute, King’s College London, UK g University of Groningen and University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The Netherlands h The Hebrew University, Israel i New York University, New York, USA j Faculty of Dental Medicine, Tirana, Albania k UNMC College of Dentistry, USA l McGill University, Canada m DAPMRV Dental College, Bangalore, India n New York College of Dentistry, New York, USA o Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Saliwell Ltd., Israel a r c h i v e s o f o r a l b i o l o g y 6 0 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 8 6 3 – 8 7 4 a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Accepted 2 March 2015 Keywords: Moistening and lubrication Taste and smell Tooth protection Mucosal protection Anti-microbial Wound healing a b s t r a c t This narrative review of the functions of saliva was conducted in the PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases. Additional references relevant to the topic were used, as our key words did not generate references which covered all known functions of saliva. These functions include maintaining a moist oral mucosa which is less susceptible to abrasion, and removal of micro-organisms, desquamated epithelial cells, leucocytes and food debris by swallowing. The mucins form a slimy coating on all surfaces in the mouth and act as a lubricant during such processes as mastication, formation of a food bolus, swallowing and speaking. Saliva provides the fluid in which solid tastants may dissolve and distributes tastants around the mouth to the locations of the taste buds. The hypotonic unstimulated saliva facilitates taste recognition. Salivary amylase is involved in digestion of starches. * Corresponding author at: Department of Oral Biology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Manitoba, 780 Bannatyne Ave., Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3E 0W2. Tel.: +1 204 789 3512; fax: +1 204 789 3913. E-mail addresses: Colin_Dawes@umanitoba.ca (C. Dawes), amlp@sund.ku.dk (A.M.L. Pedersen), Villaa@bu.edu (A. Villa), jorgen.ekstrom@pharm.gu.se (J. Ekstro ¨ m), gordon.proctor@kcl.ac.uk (G.B. Proctor), A.Vissink@umcg.nl (A. Vissink), Dorona@hadassah.org.il (D. Aframian), Richard.McGowan@med.nyu.edu (R. McGowan), ardita.aliko@k2.uib.no (A. Aliko), nnarayana@unmc.edu (N. Narayana), Ying.wai.sia@mcgill.ca (Y.W. Sia), revan.joshi@gmail.com (R.K. Joshi), sirib@sund.ku.dk (S.B. Jensen), ark3@nyu.edu (A.R. Kerr), awolff@zahav.net.il (A. Wolff). 1 Current address: Broegelmann Research Laboratory, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/aob http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.archoralbio.2015.03.004 0003–9969/# 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Downloaded for Anonymous User (n/a) at George Washington University from ClinicalKey.com by Elsevier on May 18, 2017. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright ©2017. Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.