Effect of chewing gums on our oral health

Some food items which are actually good for our health may affect our teeth. It is sure that all eatables available in a grocery are not good for our teeth. But chewing gums which are easily available helps us to keep our mouth clean.

How does chewing gum help me to clean my mouth?

The carbohydrates present in food products reduce the PH of our mouth. Besides this, the food we eat produce acids which will communicate with the bacteria present in our mouth. In such conditions, the acids are harmful as they attack the outer enamel and inner dentin of our teeth. This leads to enamel erosion, cavity and certain gum diseases.

Saliva that flows in our mouth helps us to neutralize the acid. As saliva contains calcium and Phosphate, it acts as a guard for our teeth from such acids. Chewing gums for 20 minutes after eating produces more saliva. It is found that chewing gums increase the salivary flow 10 times more than the normal flow. Such maximum level of saliva flow helps to extract the food particles and cleans our mouth.

The important thing is you can get these benefits of chewing gums after meals only if you intake sugar-free chewing gums. As sweeteners are used instead of sugar particles in these chewing gums, it does not feed sugar while we chewing them.

But other chewing gums contain sugary particles which are added for taste. Such gums also increase the salivary production but feed more sugar into the saliva that adds more value to the acids that attack our teeth.

What are the other benefits I can get with chewing gums?

Chewing gums inhibit certain dental diseases like cavities as it helps us to maintain oral hygiene. Following are some benefits which we can get with chewing gums:

• Preventing dry mouth and bad breathe. These dental health issues are caused by the reduction in salivary flow
• Remove stains that build up on the teeth surfaces after eating, smoking, drinking tea, coffee & other drinks.
• Remineralize the tooth enamel

Sugar-free chewing gums are sweetened using Xylitol. This is not just a sweetener. Xylitol prevents our tooth from tooth cavities by making Streptococcus mutans (an oral bacteria which causes cavity) to lose its ability to adhere to the tooth.

Initially, the chewing gums contain animal glycerine. Hence vegetarians cannot use chewing gums. But nowadays, chewing gums that do not contain animal glycerine are available which makes the vegetarians can also use the gums.

Who should not consume chewing gums?

Chewing gums are not suitable for people who are currently in dental treatments. Following are some of the people who have to keep stay away from chewing gums:

• Persons who have dentures should not chew the sugar-free gums as it will stick to the denture’s palette.
• Similar to denture users, persons who use Braces also need to avoid chewing gums.
• Persons who have pain in their jaws also should not use chewing gums because it will make the pain becomes worse.

Conclusion

We recommend that use chewing gums in a limited manner. If you chew the sugar-free gums excessively, it will cause damage to jaw muscles and the supporting tissues.

Remember that chewing gums is not a substitute for brushing and flossing. Even though the sugar-free gums remove stains and bacteria, the effect is not as same as brushing. Even if you use chewing gums to keep your mouth clean, maintain an effective dental hygiene routine.