Kiss: A New Gateway for Millions of Bacteria

Can you burn calories from kissing? The answer is yes! It may also help relieve stress. Another fun, but a bit unromantic fact about kissing, is that millions – yes, millions – of bacteria can be shared in one passionate kiss!

The human oral cavity hosts the second most diverse microbial community of the body, with over 700 species of bacteria. This bacteria resides on both the hard tissues of your teeth and the soft tissues of your gums and tongue. It can also be transferred through saliva. Generally, these microbes have coexisted and evolved here for quite some time but an intimate kiss introduces new players to the field. In fact, while enjoying a passionate kiss, a couple shares about 80 million bacteria, viruses and fungi. Gross! Now, according to Kort et al., most of the microbiota transfer is short-lived, but there may be a portion that settles down for the long term. The latter does require frequent bacterial exchange, however, so it is most pronounced in couples with relatively high intimate kiss frequencies.

For the most part, the microbes exchanged during a kiss are non-pathogenic (up to 95%), but pathogenic microbes like Herpes Simplex Virus-1, Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Covid-19, etc., can also make it into the mix. This is perhaps a downer if you are just getting into a new relationship but it is always good to be aware of the medical history of your partner and err on the side of caution. On the bright side, if you maintain good oral hygiene habits, it will help keep away those opportunistic pathogens, in turn, helping you maintain a healthy lifestyle.

As some scriptures say, kissing means “inhaling each other’s soul,” but now we know it is much more than that! If you are in a serious, intimate relationship, there is a good chance that your oral microbiota will be very similar to your partner’s after a period of time.

References:

1. Kort, Remco, et al. Shaping the oral microbiota through intimate kissing. Microbiome 2.1 (2014): 1-8 [Pubmed]
2. Alpert, Joseph S. Philematology: the science of kissing. A message for the marital month of june. The American journal of medicine 126.6 (2013): 466 [Pubmed]
3. Kilian, Mogens, et al. The oral microbiome–an update for oral healthcare professionals.” British dental journal 221.10 (2016): 657-666 [Pubmed]
4. https://www.healthline.com Accessed March 22, 2021.
5. https://www.webmd.com Accessed March 22, 2021.
6. http://www.bbc.com Accessed March 22, 2021.

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