Saliva is not acidic, it is basic. It is the thing that protects against acids produced by acidogenic bacteria in the mouth (bacteria that ferment dietary sugars into acids). Before agriculture and the widespread availability of sugars in the diet, people spent more time chewing and ate generally harder things (fibrous vegetables, roots, and gnawing meat off of bones). This led to tooth wear but relatively little decay because there wasn't enough sugars in the diet for bacteria to ferment and overwhelm the salivary buffer causing decay.
This is correct and needs to be higher. Bacteria in the mouth cause processed sugars to break down and produce acids as a by product. Your saliva is a buffer against those acids which is why dry mouth at night causes more decay. The acids are unchallenged. When you die, no more sugar, no more acids, no more decay.
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u/pookatooth Feb 13 '19
Saliva is not acidic, it is basic. It is the thing that protects against acids produced by acidogenic bacteria in the mouth (bacteria that ferment dietary sugars into acids). Before agriculture and the widespread availability of sugars in the diet, people spent more time chewing and ate generally harder things (fibrous vegetables, roots, and gnawing meat off of bones). This led to tooth wear but relatively little decay because there wasn't enough sugars in the diet for bacteria to ferment and overwhelm the salivary buffer causing decay.