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To celebrate this year’s World Oral Health Day – a key opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of good oral health – the WOHP launched a campaign to celebrate moments of everyday happiness. Special moments don’t have to be major milestones – often the most powerful moments are the everyday. It could be spending quality time with your family, celebrating a birthday or going to watch a movie. Smiles are how we express ourselves – that’s why having good teeth is so important to overall happiness and wellbeing.

Sadly, however, more than 3.5 billion people are affected by some kind of oral health problem. Having poor oral health can impact on your confidence and self-esteem, leading to reduced socialising or isolation. Through a series of online education materials, we sought to remind people of the importance of these moments, how they evoke happy memories and lead us to smile and show our teeth. This presented a great opportunity to promote the oral health benefits of chewing sugar-free gum, highlighting the role gum can play as part of a daily oral hygiene routine, especially when snacking on-the-go.[1]

To learn more about World Oral Health Day, please click here.

Scientists at King’s College London (KCL) have published a new systematic review and meta-analysis into the oral care benefits of chewing sugar-free gum. The latest study marks the third in a series of research papers published by KCL into sugar-free gum.  

This study found that chewing sugar-free gum significantly reduced plaque quantity in the oral cavity. When looking more specifically at xylitol gum, the review also found that it significantly reduced plaque quantity. The study concluded that this new research provides evidence to support the use of sugar-free gum – and more particularly xylitol sugar-free gum – in reducing plaque quantity in adults.

The first paper in this series by KCL, published in 2019, showed that the use of sugar-free gum may contribute to prevention and control of dental caries in children with a preventative fraction of 28%. In 2021, the scientists published a second paper based on the data, which found that chewing sugar-free gum reduces the load of Streptococcus mutans (a contributor to tooth decay, mostly found on the surfaces of teeth) in the oral cavity. This latest study provides further evidence supporting the use of sugar-free gum as part of a complete oral hygiene routine, in addition to brushing twice daily, consuming a healthy and balanced diet, and regular dental check-ups.

To read the study in full, please click here. This research was made possible with support from the Wrigley Oral Healthcare Program.

Since we helped FDI World Dental Federation launch the first World Oral Health Day in 2013, the WOHP has celebrated this key opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of good oral health and its significance in safeguarding general health and wellbeing. This year, FDI’s theme was ‘Be Proud of your Mouth for your happiness and wellbeing’, with oral health champions around the world taking part to emphasize that an unhealthy mouth can severely impact every aspect of life such as emotional, social, mental, and overall physical wellbeing.

Our campaign in 2022 focused on how we can reverse declining oral health habits. Research shows that during the COVID-19 pandemic, toothbrushing twice-a-day decreased among both parents and children, with the drop particularly noticeable in children. One in four children failed to brush twice a day[i] and fewer children had a dental exam in 2020 compared to 2019[ii]. With tooth decay currently affecting 60-90% of schoolchildren[iii], this year’s campaign encouraged parents to be oral care role models to their kids and suggested ways to make brushing more fun! Ideas included making brushing part of a family routine, turning brushing into a game, and rewarding good brushing with a piece of sugar-free gum. Chewing sugar-free gum helps prevent tooth decay by increasing the production of saliva – the body’s natural defense system for mouth and teeth. The benefits of chewing are recognized by regulatory bodies, governments, and dental associations around the world.

To learn more about World Oral Health Day, please click here.

Scientists from King’s College London have conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials with adults and children. The review found that chewing sugar-free gum reduces the load of Streptococci mutans in the oral cavity.

Preventive strategies targeting Streptococcus mutans may be effective in reducing the global burden of caries. The aim of the systematic review was to determine the difference in level of Streptococcus mutans in adults and children who chew sugar-free gum, compared with those who did not chew gum, who chewed a control gum or received alternatives such as probiotics or fluoride varnish.

Thirteen studies of sugar-free gum with micro-organisms as outcomes were identified. The use of sugar-free gum significantly reduced the load of Streptococcus mutans compared to all controls. In seven of the 13 studies the confidence intervals of the effect size estimate included zero, suggesting no effect of the intervention. Twelve trials used xylitol gum only as the basis of the intervention; xylitol gum significantly reduced the load of Streptococcus mutans in comparison to all controls.

The study concluded that chewing sugar-free gum reduces the load of Streptococcus mutans in the oral cavity in comparison to non-chewing controls. Considering the degree of variability in the effect and the moderate quality of the trials included, there is a need for future research exploring the use sugar-free gum as a preventive measure for reducing the cariogenic oral bacterial load.

This research was made possible with support from the Wrigley Oral Healthcare Program.

Scientists at the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences at King’s College London have published an article on the key outcomes of a systematic review and meta-analysis on the role of sugar-free chewing gum in dental caries. Published in the journal JDR Clinical and Translational Research, the systematic review shows that people who regularly chewed sugar free gum developed 28% less caries than those who did not.

The systematic review also found evidence that the impact of chewing sugar-free on the development of dental caries compares favorably to other preventative oral care interventions such as using fluoride toothpastes, using fluoride supplements, oral health education, and supervised tooth brushing.

This is the most robust systematic review on the topic conducted to date.

This research was made possible with support from the Wrigley Oral Healthcare Program.