Effect of Sugarless Chewing Gums on “Toothbrush Clean” Teeth

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of 3 commercial sugarfree chewing gums in aiding plaque removal immediately and 6 hours after toothbrushing in a 4-way crossover clinical study versus a no-gum control.

Methods: 31 subjects with 24-hour plaque were scored for baseline plaque (MQH), and randomized into 4 groups. Under supervision, the groups first brushed their teeth for 1 minute and were rescored for “toothbrush clean” plaque levels. Next they chewed Orbit® Complete Strong Mint (OCSM), Orbit® Sweet Mint (OSM), Extra® Peppermint (EP) or no gum under supervision for 20 minutes and again scored for plaque. Subjects subsequently chewed their assigned gum (or no gum) for 20 min. at home after lunch. Then 6 hours after brushing, subjects returned and chewed the gum or no gum a final time, followed by plaque exams. The entire 1-day procedure was repeated 3 additional times until each subject used each gum (or no gum). Data were analyzed using ANCOVA.

Results: For all 4 groups initial toothbrushing significantly (p<0.05) reduced 24-hour plaque scores from approximately 3.3 to 2.6. Subsequent chewing of the OCSM, OSM, and EP gums further reduced plaque significantly compared to no gum when used immediately after toothbrushing. Six hours after brushing, “toothbrush clean” plaque levels for the no-gum control significantly increased by 0.13 ±0.21, while OCSM, OSM, and EP chewing gums maintained plaque levels slightly less than “toothbrush clean” with reductions (mean ±s.d.) of -0.03 ±0.15, -0.09 ±0.15, and -0.04 ±0.20, respectively. All 3 chewing gums were significantly more effective than the no-gum control in maintaining toothbrush clean plaque levels 6 hours after brushing.

Conclusions: Use of commerically-available, sugarfree chewing gum both immediately after toothbrushing and throughout the day helped reduce plaque formation and kept teeth “toothbrush clean”.

[Supported by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company]