KISSING MICROBIOME

A passionate kiss comes with a total surrender. The kiss is made up of a deep connection, the ideal ‘unfolding’ of one person into the other, that seals them to ‘almost’ one person. Kissing kicks off with a gentle soft touching of the lips, the feeling of the other person and anticipated sensors joining of the body and soul; accompanied by a complete arousal of the senses. Truly, kissing can happen to anyone, anywhere and at any time. However, both of you should feel that it should happen; it is a two-way traffic. In real sense, kissing is something that is magical and can create a deep intimacy.

Medical Microbiology research work led me to the journal ‘Microbiome’ that was published last Sunday by top Medical researchers in Cambridge University. The journal focuses on 21 couples aged 17-45. The couples volunteered to take part in a health experiment; each couples’ tongue was swabbed and asked to spit saliva, for microbial count and detection. The results obtained showed that the couples had similar microbes in their mouth, even before kissing, just at the start of the research; according to the findings, the conclusion was that the similarity of the microbes was due to sharing of similar activities and frequent kissing in the couples’ relationships. The couples were instructed to take probiotic yogurt and kiss for 10 seconds; which was followed by swabbing of their tongues and spitting of their saliva, for laboratory analysis. The Medical microbiologists, focused on Lactobacillus and Bafidiobacteria; which constitute of 0.15% of the bacteria in human saliva and 0.01% of the bacteria on the tongue. The results showed that the bacteria (Lactobacillus and Bafidiobacteria) rose to 0.54% in the saliva and 0.49% on the tongue. The results were furtherly analyzed by medical statisticians and they estimated that kissing carries 80 million bacteria.

I can guess the looks on your faces as you read this article; Amazed!!! Truly, medical research work is a fun world. The Dutch scientists suggest that there are millions of microorganisms swapped during kissing and this could be used to determine your romantic fate with your partner. It is not about kissing tactics or compatibility (meant for each other), but more of whether your immune system will react against microbes that you are receiving from your partner. Our mouths are pools of microorganisms found naturally in our oral system, hence referred to as microbiome or microbiota. Individually, we all have a pool of microbes in our mouths that is different from any other; interestingly your pool of microbes is different from those of your family members.

Kissing your partner facilitates entry of microbes into your mouth’s ecosystem and if your immune system does not trigger an instant action, then the microbes entering the mouth will be considered as a match and these makes you and your partner wanting the kissing to last longer. In this way, kissing can be used to find a mate for the long term. I know it feels unbelievable, but if the bacteria from your partner harmonizes with the bacteria in your ecosystem, you will feel a sense of calmness, happiness and addiction. However, if the bacteria don’t align with your microbes, you will feel disgusted and embarrassed. All these effect is achieved by biological chemistry.

“Guys!!! Take care of yourselves”

“Your Health is my Priority”