How does saliva contribute to wound healing?

Abstract

Already for centuries people speculate about the healing power of saliva. Reports in both old and modern literature attribute miraculous healing power, as well as deadly infections to saliva. Fact is, oral wounds heal faster as compared to skin wounds, despite the presence of millions of microbes in the oral cavity. In this paper we aim to summarize the role of saliva in wound healing. Saliva contains numerous peptides, cytokines and growth factors that contribute to wound healing by stimulating blood coagulation, cell migration and proliferation. Moreover, keeping the oral microbiome in check is an important feature of saliva and prerequisite for fast and scarless wound healing. Histatins are small peptides in saliva that carry both wound healing and antimicrobial properties and are considered as potential wound healing therapeutics.