Oral health benefits of chewing gum
In the last decades sugar-free chewing gum has developed in an oral healthcare product, next to the conventional products such as the toothbrush and mouth rinses. In this thesis we investigate the oral health benefits of chewing gum and the effects of additives to chewing gum, such as antimicrobials. Our study focusses on oral bacteria and the oral biofilm, or dental plaque, which is a sticky layer of bacteria forming on teeth. Oral bacteria can be divided into good and bad bacteria, in which the formation of the oral biofilm is the root cause of many oral diseases as caries, gingivitis or periodontitis.
In this thesis we show that the major oral health benefits of sugar-free chewing gum are centered around the stimulation of saliva during mastication and that the effects of additives to chewing gum require long term use and are often difficult to prove.
Furthermore, we looked into new possibilities to improve the oral health benefits of chewing gum, especially the removal of bad bacteria from the mouth. First it was investigated whether chewing gum could trap and as a result remove bacteria from the mouth, as an important first step in the development of a chewing gum that specifically captures bad bacteria. Second, we researched the possibilities to change the hydrophobicity of oral bacteria as a method to specifically target certain types of oral bacteria. In conclusion, this thesis forms a framework for the development of the oral health benefits of chewing gum.