Need another reason to take good care of your teeth? How about the fact that your teeth are an important part of your digestion? You might not have thought much about that, but it's true. In fact, how you chew your food is almost as important as what types of food you chew. Before you take that next bite of food, take a look at how many things chewing helps you with.

Saliva Production

Each time you put food in your mouth, your salivary glands get busy. The longer the food is in your mouth, the more saliva your glands make. The more saliva that gets produced, the more food and sugars get washed out of your mouth. So, the longer you chew your food, the more saliva you will have to wash away the bacteria that causes tooth decay and gum disease. Not only that, but if you chew long enough, your saliva actually begins to digest your food before you even swallow your first bite.

Digestive Process

Your digestive track has an easier time digesting food that has been chewed up properly. In fact, your digestive tract starts working as soon as your teeth take that first bite of food. Gastric juices and pancreatic juices start brewing in anticipation of the food that is going to be sent down.  If you've chewed long enough, the gastric and pancreatic juices have enough time to build up so that the food you just ate can get digested better.

Nutritional Benefits

Every time your teeth dig into a bite of food, essential nutrients are broken down and distributed into your bloodstream. So, the more you chew, the more nutrients you're able to draw from your food. You should use your teeth to turn your food into a smooth pulp before you swallow. This will ensure that you've received the full benefit of the nutrients in your food.

Flatulence

You might not know this, but food that isn't chewed properly can actually cause extremely smelly flatulence. Those large pieces of food, sit in the intestine and ferment. The bigger the pieces, the harder it is for your intestines to pass them through the body. The longer the food sits in the intestines, the smellier your flatulence is. If you can still feel full pieces of food on your teeth, you haven't chewed long enough.

Your teeth are an important part of your digestive tract. Make sure you chew your food until it no longer feels like the food you were eating. Your digestive tract will thank you, and so will the folks around you.