facts about the mouth

4 Amazing Facts about the Mouth to Inspire Dental Assistants

As a dental assistant, your responsibilities to patients might include cleaning their teeth, ensuring the overall health of their mouth, and educating them about how to best care for their teeth and gums. You might be wondering what's so great about the human mouth, and why you might want to consider a degree in dental assisting. The truth is, the human mouth is an amazing thing, from the big chompers to the tiny taste buds. Here are some fun mouth facts to help spark your interest in teeth, tongues, and gums!

Every Bite is Unique

taste budsNo two sets of teeth line up the same--not even those of identical twins! In fact, the impressions of your teeth are nearly as reliable for identification purposes as fingerprints. While you may look at thousands of mouths during your life as a dental assistant, you're guaranteed to never see two that are exactly alike.

There's a lot of information that can be determined from an examination of the teeth, too. For instance, forensic dentists can look at teeth to determine age, ethnicity, dietary quality, and lifestyle choices. This type of identification is typically used for unidentified injured or deceased individuals, as well as to identify suspects in certain crimes. However, you might study the teeth of your patients to determine whether there are lifestyle or dietary factors affecting their tooth health, and address them through education. Some of these factors might include smoking, drinking coffee or tea, or enamel wear from poor dietary habits like eating too many acidic foods.

Swimming Pools of Saliva

As a dental assistant, you're going to encounter lots of spit. With an average production capacity of two to four pints of saliva per day, the salivary glands can produce as much as 25,000 gallons of spit in an average lifetime. That is a whole lot of spit; so much, in fact, that you could fill a couple of average-sized swimming pools with your own saliva during your lifetime! However, no one has quite figured out why you'd want to.

Taste is in the Zone?

Your tongue is covered with tiny little bumps called taste buds. These bumps were thought to exist in four rough zones, each responsible for a different type of flavor. Newer research has shown this to be a myth. While it's true that taste buds fall in a rough line around the edges of the tongue, each can properly transmit different types of tastes, such as sweet, salty, sour, and bitter, as well as a newer addition to the list, umami. Umami is the Japanese word for deliciousness and describes the flavor present in many Asian dishes, especially those that contain monosodium glutamate. There may be some difference in how quickly each taste registers on each individual taste bud, but overall, every part of your tongue can detect and transmit information about each type of flavor. Scientists also think there are far more flavor receptors than have so far been discovered.

If You Like Bacteria

Right now, there are probably between 500 and 1,000 different types of bacteria happily living in your mouth. Overall, you probably have around 10-50 billion little bacteria hanging out between your teeth, in the cracks between your taste buds, and on every other surface inside your mouth. They also have a gang of buddies with them, including nearly a hundred types of fungi, some viruses, and a few parasites that have tagged along for the ride. Some of these are beneficial additions, such as bacteria that helps keep other bad bacteria in check, but some are decidedly not beneficial, causing cavities, bad breath, and plaque buildup.

Yes, all of this is a little gross, but it's also a little fascinating to think of a whole ecosystem existing inside your mouth. Even more interesting to consider is that the growth of bacteria inside your mouth can happen incredibly quickly; every four or five hours, their numbers double. That makes regular brushing and flossing look a lot more appealing, doesn't it?

Is Dental Assisting Right for You?

Dental assisting certainly isn't for everyone. It requires a lot of patience, specialized training, and a specific skill set to help you handle patient interactions. As a dental assistant, you might see yourself in a position where you are responsible for the smooth operation of a dental practice, as well as helping provide the proper care to dental patients. Good organizational skills are a must, as you'll likely be coordinating care for each patient between the dentist and other staff members.

A Future in Dental Assisting Awaits!

If you're interested in a future in dental assisting, contact ECPI University today about the Associate of Applied Science in Health Science with a concentration in Dental Assisting. In as little as 15 months, you could be ready to pursue a job in the dental industry. It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

Learn more about ECPI's College of Health Science TODAY!

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