That it ?? only a pint ?? ....... looks like I'm gonna have to cut down on my recreational HIV saliva drinking contests.

This is probably in my top 3 of all time BEST QUESTION posts on this site.
What an excellent question of the most curious and unthought of sort.

Not that I care much overall, but now I really need to know. With recent dental work done I wondered where was that old mini spit sink of years gone by. It sure would have been nice since tooth fragments were irritating my pharynx and I had to direct the assistant to suction out the debris!

Originally posted by jd140
I asked my wife who is a dental assistant and dental lab tech.

Here is her answer and I quote.

"Where the hell do you think it goes? It goes to the same place it goes when it is spit into the sink. If all you are going to do is sit at a computer and play on a site that asks stupid questions then you need to turn it off and get your a@@ in bed."


(sigh) I love my wife.

Sounds like a cover-up to me!
Don't trust dentists! They advocated flouridating the water supply.

What do dentists do with our saliva?

They use it to make Pepsi...

[edit on 11-6-2009 by TheComte]

Originally posted by TheComte

What do dentists do with our saliva?

They use it to make Pepsi...

[edit on 11-6-2009 by TheComte]

I'm crossing my fingers, hoping that someone at this very moment is reading this comment and drinking Pepsi at the same time, then says "ew" and slowly pushes the can away.

Originally posted by trusername

In the good old days, we could rinse and spit into sinks. But now we have these suction tubes that remind me of Dementors in Harry Potter. Every time I close my lips around the tiny vacuum I suppress a tiny wave of panic. I watch the clear tube of blood and water and chips of tooth twist and wind it's way not into the sink... but into a canister?

So, my question is, to the dentists on ATS - I'm sure there must be many dentists, right?

Do you know if the system set up in your offices, lead these tubes into your drainage system?

Or is it because of mercury and other metals (gold / silver...) in our old fillings that this is now "biowaste" and you have services that take away all you're sucking out?

Do you know where it goes?

Do you know a name of the service or the biggest company that provides this service if it exists?

Just curious.

This is too freaking unreal for me. What do dentists do with spit? Aw good god, I know I can ask freaky questions, but this takes the cake right out of my teeth, with help from dental floss. I haven't read any responses to this, and I am really afraid to read them.
WTF??

Okay, in the spirit of discussion, I will say, the dentists take the spit from us and feed it to the less fortunate of us all. And the little kids say, "
Thank you, can I have some more?"

Originally posted by War Otter

Originally posted by jd140
I asked my wife who is a dental assistant and dental lab tech.

Here is her answer and I quote.

"Where the hell do you think it goes? It goes to the same place it goes when it is spit into the sink. If all you are going to do is sit at a computer and play on a site that asks stupid questions then you need to turn it off and get your a@@ in bed."


(sigh) I love my wife.

Sounds like a cover-up to me!
Don't trust dentists! They advocated flouridating the water supply.

Ah - maybe the fluoridating of the water was just a cover up so they'd have more excuse to collect our spit

It's all becoming clearer to me now

Originally posted by kyred

This is too freaking unreal for me. What do dentists do with spit? Aw good god, I know I can ask freaky questions, but this takes the cake right out of my teeth, with help from dental floss. I haven't read any responses to this, and I am really afraid to read them.
WTF??

Okay, in the spirit of discussion, I will say, the dentists take the spit from us and feed it to the less fortunate of us all. And the little kids say, "
Thank you, can I have some more?"

You mock - but I'm pretty sure the original name for that musical was...

wait for it....

Saliver

Someone just emailed me that there is a jewelery maker in Italy that situated itself right next to a computer recycling company that it also now owns. They take the heavy metals from the computers and make jewelry out of them.

So who is getting all the gold and silver from our teeth?

It must be being sifted out, I suppose.

I don't know about fillings but whenever I go to the dentist I only get that vacuum tube (+ another tube that shoots out water) to keep my mouth clean, and in specific cases (braces) dry enough. (Which obviously, excludes the mini supersoaker)

Would be hell if the dentist had to remove all the equipment from my mouth, let me gurgle a bit of water, and have everything go back in again, 10 times.

In all cases where he isn't performing great feats in my mouth that require a lot of precision / time / whatever, I'm allowed to spit in a sink. (This is usually at the end of treatment / when I've had some substance put on / in my teeth)

I'd bet my money on them that the canister of these mysterious mini-vacuums is simply there for convenience.

Just like a regular vacuum cleaner isn't connected to your trashcan, it has its own bag.

[edit on 11/6/09 by -0mega-]

There are a lot of well reasoned responses here, but it still doesn't address the fact that someone is stealing our precious bodily fluids for nefarious reasons.