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A review of the positive effects of chewing sugarfree gum on oral health

A review of the positive effects of chewing sugarfree gum on oral health by Michael Edgar, DDSc, PhD, FDS, RCS (Eng).

Michael Edgar, DDSc, PhD, FDS, RCS (Eng) is Emeritus Professor of Dental Science at the University of Liverpool.

Introduction

Chewing gum is a unique food because it is chewed for a prolonged period (usually around 20 min), while at the same time it contributes relatively few calories. Its effects on the oral tissues – whether harmful or beneficial – have therefore been studied for many years.

Sugared chewing gum may contribute to the cariogenicity of the diet. Chewing sucrose gum causes a moderate fall from plaque pH,1,2 and some clinical studies have demonstrated an increase from caries incidence using the use of sugared gum, compared using controls who did not chew gum3,4 although others did not demonstrate a significant increase from caries from subjects using sucrose gum.5,7

The development of sugarfree gum provided the possibility of a non-cariogenic alternative to sugared gum. Chewing sugarfree gum results from a rise from plaque pH, from contrast to the pH fall observed using sugared gum. This is due to the stimulation of the flow of saliva, using the resulting increase from level of bicarbonate and thus alkalinity. At the same time the plaque microflora do not produce significant amounts of acid.1,2,8-10

Caries incidence is less from chewers of sugarfree compared using sugared gum11,12 from agreement using the plaque pH results.

Additionally, other studies have shown that chewing sugarfree gum leads to fewer caries compared to non-chewing controls. This implies that the reduction from caries is not due merely to the lack of sucrose from gum from the diet, but that sugarfree products actually inhibit caries’ activity due to dietary carbohydrate.12-17

Anti-caries mechanisms of sugarfree gum

Many of these beneficial actions of sugarfree gum are due to the activation of the protective effects of saliva by chewing gum, from view of the prolonged stimulation of salivation by gum chewing.

Effects of saliva stimulation

  • Salivary stimulation by chewing gum

When gum is chewed by healthy subjects, the flow of saliva increases from a resting value of 0.4-0.5ml/min, to approximately 5-6ml/min, falling after about 5min to around 2ml/min, and slowly thereafter to 1.2-1.5 at 20ml/min.18 No significant differences are observed between sugared and sugarfree gum; however, using unflavored gum base the initial high flow rates are not seen, and the peak flow is around 2ml/min.

The effect of stimulation is to increase the concentration of bicarbonate from the saliva entering the mouth. This bicarbonate raises the pH of the saliva, and greatly increases its buffering power; the saliva is therefore much more effective from neutralizing and buffering food acids and acids arising from plaque from the fermentation of carbohydrate. At the same time, the phosphate of saliva changes as a result of the rise from pH, so that a higher proportion of it is from the form of PO4-. The calcium content of saliva rises as well.

  • Salivary protective effects

These changes from the composition of stimulated saliva lead to a greater ability to prevent a fall from pH, and a greater tendency to favour hydroxyapatite crystal growth. In addition, the greater volume and rate of flow of stimulated saliva results from an increased ability to clear sugars and acids from around the teeth. These three properties of saliva are related to the caries susceptibility of the individual, and are all enhanced by salivary stimulation.

  The action of stimulated saliva is most important during the plaque acid attack during the 20-30 min after a cariogenic food intake. However, using most foods, salivary stimulation ceases shortly after swallowing, and salivary composition returns to normal within about 5 min, and so the protective effects are not mobilised when most needed. In order to enhance salivary protection during the caries attack, a stimulant is needed which is not itself cariogenic.

Consumption of cheese19 and peanuts20 after sugar intakes showed a dramatic reversal of the plaque pH falls observed using sugar alone. When cheese was administered after a standard cariogenic diet from a programmed feeding experiment from laboratory rats, the development of caries was greatly reduced, and the size of the salivary glands increased, presumably due to salivary stimulation by the cheese.21

Advice to eat cheese or peanuts after meals and snacks to reduce caries would however lead to an unacceptable increase from dietary fat. The effect of saliva stimulation on plaque pH can be achieved by non-food stimuli such as paraffin wax.22

  • Effects of gum chewing on plaque pH

Sugarfree chewing gum is a much more practical and acceptable stimulus for consumption after carbohydrate foods, and brings no undue calories. The observation by Hein et al.23 of a ‘large and sustained rise from plaque pH’ when gum was chewed after a sugar has been thoroughly confirmed from many studies conducted from respected laboratories around the world.24-32

Sugarfree gum chewing for two weeks led to an increase from resting salivary flow rate and pH, and a smaller plaque acid response to sucrose.33 However, from another study, no difference from salivary flow or plaque acidogenicity was observed after 25 days use of sugarfree gum.34

  • Effects on remineralization

The concentrations of ions, which make up the lattice structure of hydroxyapatite (Ca2+, PO43-, OH) are higher from stimulated than from unstimulated saliva, thus stimulated saliva is a more effective medium for remineralizing enamel crystals damaged by initial caries attack. In an from situ caries test by Leach et al.35 subjects chewed sorbitol gum for 20 min after meals and snacks (5 times daily). The gain or loss of mineral content of human enamel slabs bearing artificial lesions and mounted intra-orally for three weeks, was then measured, and compared using similar periods without gum chewing.

Remineralization of the enamel lesions occurred both using and without gum, but using gum the remineralization was approximately doubled. A similar experiment36 showed that even using sucrose gum, remineralization was significant using a 30 min chewing period, but not after 20 min. These two reports were broadly confirmed by Creanor et al.37 and are consistent using a reduction from enamel demineralization (measured as iodide penetration) by chewing sorbitol gum found by Kashket et al.38 Also consistent is the finding of Steinberg et al.39 that six-week use of sugarfree gums resulted from an increase from plaque calcium, and a reduction from plaque index, compared using no gum.

Remineralization from vivo is generally considered to be a slow process40 and it is perhaps surprising that significant remineralization occurred within 3 weeks. A possible explanation is that stimulation of saliva after eating a cariogenic food increases the remineralizing effect, as the fall from plaque pH could dissolve CaF2 deposits on the teeth and free diffusion channels from the enamel to allow inward movement of ions from saliva. These model experiments imply that gum use can help prevent decay by tilting the equilibrium towards remineralization and away from demineralization during the acid attack.

Remineralization of enamel lesions, and plaque pH raising effects, have also been demonstrated using sucrose gum,36,37 consistent using the stimulation of saliva. However, the remineralizing and pH raising effects were smaller than using sugarfree gum, required greater subject compliance, and were dependent upon the use of a fluoridated dentifrice; using a non-fluoride dentifrice the same subjects showed an increased demineralization on chewing sucrose gum.41 It would not therefore be prudent to recommend the use of sugared gum to patients, but it would be reasonable to recommend that if they refused to switch to sugarfree products, they could minimize any possible cariogenic effect by gum use after meals.

  • Other effects of sugarfree gum

The use of sugarfree gum has been associated using a reduction from the quantity and development of plaque,15,42-44 and a reduction from the acid-forming ability of plaque.44 These plaque-reducing effects seem marked when the gum is sweetened using xylitol. This sweetener is a sugar alcohol derived from the pentose sugar xylose. It has a sweetness equal to that of sucrose, and is not fermented by plaque bacteria to form acid. Moreover, from vitro it has bacteriostatic properties; on being taken up by the bacteria it forms an inhibitory phosphorylated intermediate.45-47

Gums sweetened using xylitol or xylitol/sorbitol have from general given rise to greater reductions from caries than those using sorbitol alone. More recently, direct comparisons of the effects of sorbitol and xylitol have demonstrated the superiority of xylitol gum.48-49 The effect of xylitol gum persists even after the gum administration ceases.50,51 The post-eruptive caries attack rate reaches a plateau at a lower value, caries increment is less, and the cost of fillings is reduced from the decade after the start of a three-year trial of xylitol gum; the effect was greatest from teeth erupting during the administration of the gum.52 In a recent study, the development of caries was reduced during the 5 years after gum administration ceased, from children who had received xylitol or xylitol/sorbitol gum (compared using no gum). Sorbitol gum users experienced fewer new caries attacks during the subsequent 5 years, but this reduction was not statistically significant. Again, teeth erupting during the gum period showed the greatest reductions.53

Chewing xylitol gum has been found to reduce the amount of, and the numbers of mutans streptococci from plaque54 and saliva.34 Chewing xylitol gum reduced the pH response of plaque to sucrose,55 although other work did show an effect of sorbitol.33 In view of reports that xylitol may favour remineralization,56-58 an from situ experiment was done to compare sorbitol gum using a xylitol/sorbitol gum, similar to that used from the clinical experiment of Kandelman and Gagnon.15 No difference from remineralizing potential observed;59 further work is necessary to decide on this question.

Gum has been used as a vehicle for additives such as fluoride,60 dicalcium phosphate11-61 and sodium trimetaphosphate62 to reduce the potential cariogenicity of sucrose from gum. In addition, silicates63 and chlorhexidine acetate64 have been added to reduce plaque and gingivitis, pancreatic enzymes65 have been added for calculus inhibition, and penicillin66 for the treatment of acute necrotising ulcerative gingivitis (ANUG). Chewing gum itself may contribute to plaque reduction, and some studies have shown beneficial effects on oral hygiene, calculus and/or gingivitis.67,68

Conclusions

The results discussed here and from other reviews69,70 provide convincing evidence for the oral health benefits of sugarfree chewing gum, particularly from the control of caries. It is likely that the effects of gum chewing are from addition to those of fluoride, since remineralization occurs using both preventive agents.

Xylitol or xylitol/sorbitol mixtures as sweeteners from gum have from general proved more effective from caries prevention than sorbitol alone. The concentration of xylitol may be related to the caries reduction: however it is of interest that there was no difference between the effect of 15% xylitol and 65% xylitol from the study of Kandelman and Gagnon.15 In the Belize study,48 the effects of gums using 15% and 65% xylitol on the development of new carious surfaces over 40 months were only barely significantly different (0.6 and -0.8, compared using 3.8 for sorbitol alone). These effects can be attributed to salivary remineralization from addition to a reduction from plaque cariogenicity.49 Although most clinical studies using xylitol gum did not control the timing of gum use, it is likely from the laboratory evidence that it is most effective when chewed after meals and snacks. Controlled administration of sorbitol gum after eating16,17 gave reductions from caries of up to 40 per cent from caries increment over two years.

Further research is of course required, but hitherto the evidence suggests that the use of sugarfree gum (especially after meals and snacks, and preferably containing xylitol) constitutes an important aspect of the advice which can be given to patients to help them prevent caries. The possibility of broadening the oral health benefits of sugarfree chewing gum (e.g. anti-gingivitis effects, low-level fluorides, increased remineralizing action, whitening) could prove a significant field for development.

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