Scientists have already proven that licking a wound would significantly help improve healing. Now, a new study discovered that human saliva has special properties that can produce nets to cover a wound and capture and kill bacteria more effective than white blood cells in other parts of the body.

The human saliva contains water and mucus that works essentially for wounds. Oral mucus stimulates white blood cells to work against infectious agents, which is considered to be the first line of defence of the body against infections.

The mucus allows white blood cells to build a “net” that traps bacteria, according to Ole Sørensen from the Division of Infection Medicine in Lund University. The study, published in the journal Blood, comes from the analysis by researchers at Lund University in Sweden and Copenhagen and Odense in Denmark.

The wound-covering nets were already discovered in the previous decade. However, the new study found that the trapping mechanism of the nets from the saliva works better in capturing and killing bacteria compared with nets produced by white blood cells in other parts of the body, as stated in a press release.

Sørensen said that the mucus in the saliva plays an important role in enhancing the effectiveness of the white blood cells to create nets of DNA and proteins. The researchers believe that the finding could lead to development of new drugs in the future.

The team also found two oral diseases that could be associated to the lack of saliva. These are aphthous stomatitis and Behçet's disease, which are commonly identified as mouth ulcers.

Patients with aphthous stomatitis develop ulcers in the mouth and on the lips, which is a common and minor ailment that could be healed within a week. However, the researchers noted that it could potentially be major and more long-lasting in some cases.

The other ailment, Behçet's disease, has been identified to cause problems not only in the mouth of patients but also the genitals and in the eyes.

However, Sørensen noted that they are unable to determine if the inability of the mucus to stimulate white blood cells to produce nets directly caused the development of the diseases. He added that there could be other factors that might cause the ulcers and the changes in the saliva.

The researchers aim to conduct further studies to understand the link between the diseases and the presence of saliva. To date, no fully effective cure could be provided for the ulcers. Patients with aphthous stomatitis are only advised to use special mouthwashes and toothpastes, while those with Behçet's disease use anti-inflammatory drugs.

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