For generations, dentists and parents have condemned Gum chewing as a sure route to cavities. Even decades after Sugar-free Gum hit the market, the habit was villainized far and wide as unhealthy. Now, though, a new learned study suggests chewing Gum may be good for you…
Improving your dental and oral hygiene by as much as 30 percent
could be as simple as chewing Sugar-free Gum after meals…
I remember a time when kids got an automatic detention for chewing Gum in school. They tell me those days are gone, but the popular wisdom remains: Chewing Gum is bad for you, especially your teeth. No so, says a British research team. A clinical team at King’s College London has published a new study that not only vindicates chewing Gum but suggests that the habit could enhance dental and oral health.
What they did
The King’s College team assembled a pile of previous surveys and studies from the past 50 years, winnowing out 12 papers which, “explored the impact and intervention outcome of chewing sugar-free gum on oral health conditions, and in particular, dental caries on adults and children.”
What they found
They were surprised to find, when their analysis was complete, that chewing Sugar-free Gum reduced plaque buildup significantly. In fact, they assigned the habit a prevention factor of 28 percent.
The takeaway
It seems that chewing Sugar-free Gum could make a huge positive impact on the dental health of both adults and children. But research team Leader Dr. Avijit Banerjee, Professor of Cariology & Operative Dentistry at King’s College London says we shouldn’t be too hasty about taking up the Gum habit.
“There is a considerable degree of variability in the effect from the published data and the trials included were generally of moderate quality. However, we felt there was a definite need to update and refresh existing knowledge about sugar-free gum and its effect on dental caries and oral health. We are planning further research to determine the acceptability and feasibility of using this method in public health.”
My take
If you read between the lines of Dr. Banerjee’s comment, you’ll quickly realize what he and his colleagues did: if simply chewing Gum can reduce cavities and gum disease by 28 percent, that means dentists will potentially have that much less work. That much less income. You can hear an echo of that in Banerjee’s closing statement, that further research is needed on, “the acceptability and feasibility of using this method in public health.” If I was a dentist, it wouldn’t be acceptable to me. I’d want the opposite; less further study, in case it simply bolstered the original findings and strengthened the case for chewing Gum as part of the average person’s daily oral hygiene program.
Want to bet we’ll never hear anything further on this surprising discovery again?
~ Maggie J.