Published in the Journal of Dental Research, the study from King's College London revealed that chewing sugar-free gum not only reduce the advancement of dental caries, it could be used as a viable preventative agent, in comparison to non-chewing control methods such as oral health education and supervising toothbrushing programmes alone.
"Both the stimulation of saliva which can act as a natural barrier to protect teeth, and the mechanical plaque control that results from the act of chewing, can contribute to the prevention of dental caries," said study lead author and Indian origin researcher Avijit Banerjee, Professor at King's College London in UK.
Sugar-free gum can also act as a carrier for antibacterial ingredients including xylitol and sorbitol.
"No recent conclusive evidence existed prior to this review that showed the relationship between slowing the development of caries and chewing sugar-free gum," Banerjee added.
The research included analysis of studies published over the last 50 years, identifying 12 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.
Sugar-free gum was found to reduce caries increment, giving it a preventative factor of 28 per cent.
In recent years, chewing sugar-free gum has emerged as a possible supplement to existing prevention strategies in stopping the development of dental caries.
"There is a considerable degree of variability in the effect from the published data and the trials included were generally of moderate quality", Banerjee said.
( With inputs from IANS )