Ama Asantewaa was wondering why people are always spraying herself with saliva? This made her curious to discuss this with Kwasi Omaro. I hope you also feel same to know about this gleeking! Below was the conversation that took place between Ama Asantewaa and Kwasi Omaro.
Ama Asantewaa: Kwasi, I have heard gleeking; what’s it?
Kwasi Omaro; Ama, spraying saliva from under your tongue especially when talking, eating or yawning.
Ama Asantewaa: How’s the spraying of saliva come about? Is gleeking a medical term?
Kwasi Omaro (sighs): We’ve glands that make our saliva that sit underneath our tongue. These glands release their saliva into the mouth through little opening called the Wharton’s duct. Ama, it’s not a medical term but hypersalivation can be synonymous. Ama, are you ok?
Ama Asantewaa (perplexed): No please; the medical jargon hypersalivation has confused me.
Kwasi Omaro (chuckles): The hyper means high or excess and the salivation is the production of saliva. Let me also add that we have three pairs of major salivary glands in our mouth and so many minor ones. Due to our discussion, I will mention two major salivary glands such as the submandibular glands and sublingual glands. As we eat, these glands in our mouth are stimulated and force saliva out.
Kwasi Omaro: Ama, now can you in simple term explain gleeking to our important audience?
Ama Asantewaa: Yes; Gleeking is a result of built up watery saliva in our sublingual gland. Any pressure on the glands from the tongue causes the saliva to squirt out.
Kwasi Omaro (Curious): Please Ama, is this gleeking intentionally?
Ama Asantewaa: Yeah Kwasi but mostly accidentally. Some actually prime their mouth for gleeking as a fun while others see it as embarrassing especially the accidental ones. Some health experts say eating sour foods can stimulate the salivary glands to produce more saliva.
Kwasi Omaro (thinking aloud): Ama, how do they intentionally gleek?
Ama Asantewaa: They push their tongue out of their mouth, lift it up and curl the tip back so that it rests behind their top teeth to keep the muscles in the tongue tensed. This helps to squeeze the Wharton’s duct and the saliva squirts out!
Kwasi Omaro: Ama, let end our conversation with how to stop gleeking to our wonderful audience.
Ama Asantewaa: Drink more water to reduce excess saliva production, avoid or reduce the intake of sour foods, oral hygiene like mouth rinsing after eating and others. We thank you all for your audience. Watch out for Headaches Behind The Ear , till we meet again, Bye!
Credit: http://www.health.com
Kwasi Omaro 