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From: jgk@osc.COM (Joe Keane)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: The pH of saliva
Summary: buffer
Keywords: saliva
Message-ID: <1721@osc.COM>
Date: 8 Dec 89 20:25:56 GMT
References: <18383@bellcore.bellcore.com> <114000002@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> <14608@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
Reply-To: jgk@osc.osc.com (Joe Keane)
Organization: Object Sciences Corp., Menlo Park, CA
Lines: 11

It's important to remember that the saliva doesn't neutralize the acidity, it
buffers it.  If the saliva had to neutralize the acidity, it'd have to be pH
12, assuming approximately equal volumes.  This is clearly not true.  The
saliva has a certain pH that it tends to maintain, by buffering.  This
observation alone doesn't determine saliva's pH one way or the other.

Secreting saliva and gastric juices tend to go together, when you're eating
something or thinking about it.  They're supposed to be mixed together to get
the right pH in your stomach.  I think the reason chewing tends to cause ulcers
is exactly what the doctor said, that you spit out the saliva, and keep
producing gastric juices even though there's nothing in your stomach.