Dog Spit Cures Everything!

Why does canine licking help wounds heal?

Have you ever watched ever seen a wounded animal lick its wounds?  What is this all about?  One might wonder whether Mother Nature put anything special in dogs’ saliva.  Previous research found some wound-healing substances in “dog spit.”  Now, British researchers have found evidence of another.  
“After injury to the skin, it is instinctive for animals and man to lick the wound.  Licking wounds promotes healing and reduces bacterial contamination.  There have been reports that Fijian fisherman deliberately allow dogs to lick their wounds to promote rapid healing.”  -- The Lancet, June 1997

”Saliva contains the antimicrobial substances thiocyanate and lysozyme.  Salivary glands also concentrate nitrite, which can be converted into nitric oxide, another powerful antimicrobial.  To test whether this substance may also play a role in healing, Nigell Benjamin and his colleagues at St. Bartholomew’s and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry asked 14 healthy people to lick “all over” their skin and then measured the synthesis of nitric oxide on their skin.  Nitric oxide synthesis increased sharply when the subjects licked their skin, indicating that nitric oxide derived form salivary nitrite applied to the skin contributes to the antimicrobial effects of wound licking …”   -- Bob Stein, The Washington Post, Reprinted from The Spotted Dog May 1998

I’m not sure how far any of us (or our physicians) would be willing to go in letting our dogs lick our own wounds; but this seems to indicate that a lick from your pet dog is not dangerous.  Sometimes it seems to me that the “anti-microbial” craze in current households is overkill indeed.  My son, a dentist, assures me that a human mouth specifically a human bite is bacteria laden and a really dangerous injury.  If you know anyone who reacts to doggie kisses like Charley Brown’s friend Lucy by screaming, “Dog Spit, Ugh! A DOG licked me! Call my doctor,” tell them to relax and enjoy it.