Chewing gum and oral health
There are a lot of different opinions about chewing gum and its health benefit. Some people believe that it makes people fat, some believe it slims down the body; some say it slims the face. Some people think it’s good for the teeth while some believe it is totally unhealthy. However, science has its own ideas about chewing gum and oral health that have been proven. Apparently, sugar free chewing gum is good for the health.
Well, the chewing of sugar free chewing gum increases the flow of saliva in the mouth. Stimulated saliva corrects a potentially harmful environment using its high concentration of buffers, minerals and antibacterial components. This neutralizes acids produced by bacteria in the mouth, washes away food and other particles and provides disease-fighting substances throughout the mouth. Increased saliva flow also carries with it more calcium and phosphate to help strengthen tooth enamel. This helps prevent tooth decay. This means that that chewing sugarless gum for 20 minutes following meals can help prevent tooth decay. Those who chewed sugar free gum after eating had fewer cavities than those who did not. Chewing gum freshens breath, whitens teeth by reducing stains and preventing stains from accumulating and reduces plaque.
Of course, chewing sugar-containing gum increases saliva flow too, but it also contains sugar. This sugar is used by plaque bacteria to produce decay-causing acids. As much help as chewing gum is, it is not a substitute for brushing and flossing. Therefore, do not use it to replace any of them. The American Dental Association (ADA) still recommends brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste and cleaning plaque from between your teeth once a day with dental floss or other interdental cleaners. The only varieties of gum with the ADA Seal are sugarless. Now, we call them sugarless not because they have a bitter or sour taste but because they really don’t have sugar in them but are still sweet to the taste. This is because they are sweetened by non-cavity causing sweeteners such as aspartame, xylitol, sorbitol or mannitol.
Look for chewing gum that carries the ADA Seal. The ADA Seal is your assurance that the sugar-free chewing gum has met the ADA criteria for safety and effectiveness. You can trust that claims made on packaging and labelling for ADA-accepted products are true, because companies must verify all of the information to the ADA. Products with the ADA Seal say what they do and do what they say.
So next time you wish to buy chewing gum, look for chewing gum that delivers a variety of therapeutic agents that could provide additional benefits to those provided by the ability of gum to mechanically stimulate saliva flow. For instance, some gum might contain active agents that could enhance the gum’s ability to re-mineralize teeth and reduce decay, or enable gum to help reduce plaque and gingivitis.
Some chewing gums that have the American Dental association (ADA) seal are 5 sugarfree Gum, Bazooka sugar free Bubble gum, Dentyne Ice Sugarless Gum, Eclipse Sugar free Gum, Orbit Sugar free Gum, Stride Sugarless Gum Trident sugar free Gum, etc.