Guess what? Digestion doesn’t begin the moment food enters your stomach. It begins once food enters your mouth, even before you swallow that first bite.
Our biological dentistry in Toronto understands how so much of our daily life is influenced by our oral health and this includes our digestive processes.
If you’ve never heard of the term “mastication” before, this is the process of food being broken down by the jaws, teeth, tongue, and saliva.
Teeth: Our teeth are designed specifically for mastication. Incisors and canines bite through food, while molars grind and crush it. It is super important to maintain all of your teeth for a lifetime to prevent imbalances on one side of the mouth while chewing. The less teeth or more misaligned smile you have, your difficulty in chewing food increases. Larger food pieces are swallowed, which makes it harder on digestion. As well, larger food particles make it difficult for the small intestine to efficiently extract the important nutrients from your food, leading to poor overall vitality.
Saliva: Saliva is crucial to help keep food particles moist and bind together. It also helps neutralize acids while we eat. Insufficient saliva production and dry mouth make it difficult for food to get broken down properly in the stomach.
Our jaws and tongue also play a significant role in the mastication process. Having a strong jaw is important to generate strong force to break down hard foods, while the tongue must be able to move in normal ranges of motion to allow food to move around the mouth as it should.
Indigestion, gas, and bloating are the common and uncomfortable side effects of poor digestion along with not expelling the proper nutrients from your food to live your most optimal life. The first step in healthy digestion begins with your oral health.
Maintaining and restoring your oral health will lead to better digestion and a healthier, happier life. Our wholistic dental clinic can help you with that!
