Chewing gum could be the NHS saving grace
If all 12 year-olds across the UK chewed sugar-free gum after eating or drinking the NHS would save an incredible £8.2million each year.
That's the equivalent of 364,000 dental check-ups - all thanks to chewing gum's role in preventing tooth decay.
More staggeringly, if this easy solution was applied to the whole population - rather than just one age group - the potential cost savings to the NHS would be even more substantial.
The affect of sugar-free gum on the development of dental caries has been widely studied.
Chewing sugarfree gum has a host of benefits for dental health
Research suggests the simple act of chewing gum - particularly after food, but it must be sugar-free - can rapidly reduce the rate of tooth decay.
It does this by increasing salivary flow.
Saliva neutralises plaque acids, remineralises tooth enamel and helps to remove food debris from the mouth and teeth.
Each week, more than one million patients in the UK use NHS dental services, costing the NHS an estimated £3.4 billion a year.
Chewing gum: If given to children it could save the NHS millions every year
Currently, £30 million is spent per annum on hospital-based extractions of children’s teeth, with over a third of 12 year olds having "obvious decay experience" in their permanent teeth.
Treating tooth decay is placing an increasing and significant strain on the NHS and family finances, therefore new innovative ways to reduce the burden of oral disease are needed.
This novel tactic has already made its way to Finland and 90 per cent of Finnish kindergartens offer xylitol sweets to all children on a daily basis. It is thought the xylitol is a useful tool for preventative dentistry as it kills the bacteria that causes plaque and decay.
A similar tactic has been used in other countries, such as Finland
Professor Liz Kay of Peninsula Dental School (Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry) and co-author of the study said: “With the growing strain on the NHS, there is an increasing need to find innovative new ways of helping reduce the burden of oral disease.
"The findings of this study demonstrate a simple but effective way of helping improve their oral health."
She added: "Crucially, whilst these figures are significant, they refer only to cost reductions for treating 12 year olds in the UK – if this model was to be applied to the whole population then there is a real potential to create substantial NHS savings.
"Such savings could then be used, for example, to fund other cost-effective oral health interventions."
The breakthrough study was conducted by York Health Economics Consortium and Peninsula Dental School.