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Chewing Gum Can Help Your Teeth!

Your parents may have told you that chewing gum would rot your teeth, but recent research has shown that chewing certain types of gum can actually reduce cavities. And if you are an expectant mother or the mother of a newborn, chewing gum may reduce your child’s cavities.

Streptococci bacteria (that’s the same family of bacteria that causes strep throat) feed on sugars to create acids. Those acids attack tooth enamel—and that leads to tooth decay. While saliva neutralizes the bacteria, too much sugar creates an avalanche that overwhelms saliva’s effect. Chewing gum increases saliva production—that’s good. But the sugar in chewing gum creates more acid than what increased saliva can wash away—that’s bad. And that’s why your parents told you that chewing gum causes cavities.

How do bacteria get into infants’ mouths? Primarily from their mothers. In fact, transmission of streptococci from mother to child begins even before birth. Now, researchers have discovered a way to counteract the streptococci problem, and it involves chewing gum.

Xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar (much of it comes from corn cobs). Unlike regular table sugar, however, xylitol does not promote the growth of acid on the teeth. Streptococci can’t process xylitol. In fact, xylitol helps prevent acid from sticking to teeth. This means that the increased saliva generated from chewing xylitol-sweetened gum washes away most of the streptococci from the mouth—up to 90%, according to scientific studies.

Fewer streptococci in mom’s mouth means less tooth decay in baby’s mouth. Researchers had expectant mothers chew xylitol-sweetened gum during the last three months of their pregnancies. Then the researchers tested the children until age two for the presence of bacteria in their mouths. The children of mothers who chewed xylitol-sweetened gum while pregnant were less likely to have oral streptococci at every test period.

Better yet, chewing xylitol gum may actually strengthen teeth. The combination of more saliva and less acid leads to a process called remineralization that restores tooth enamel and can actually reverse the lesions that lead to cavities.

So your parents were only partially right. Chewing gum sweetened with sugar can, indeed, rot your children’s teeth. But xylitol-sweetened gum can help maintain and strengthen your children’s teeth—even before they’re born.


Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_17606094_young-girl-making-a-bubble-from-a-chewing-gum.html'>xavigm / 123RF Stock Photo</a>