Effect of Xylitol or Probiotic Chewing Gums in Oral Health

Methods: The material consisted of 80 healthy dental students (21-24yr) who volunteered after informed consent. They were assigned by random into one of four parallel study groups; A: probiotic gum group, B: xylitol gum group, C: probiotic+xylitol gum group, and D: placebo gum group. The gums were taken three times daily after meal and the intervention period was 3 weeks. The probiotic gums contained Lactobacilli reuteri ATCC 55730 and L. reuteri ATCC PTA 5289 each at a dose (1x10⁸ cfu/gum) and each pellet of the xylitol gum contained »1.0 g xylitol as single sweetener. Pre- and post-treatment samples of stimulated whole saliva were collected and quantified for MS and LB with chair-side kits.

Results: A statistically significant reduction (p<0.05) of salivary MS was displayed in group A and B after the intervention when compared with baseline. A similar but nonsignificant tendency was seen in group C. No alterations of salivary LB was demonstrated in any group.

Conclusions: Daily chewing on gums containing probiotic bacteria or xylitol reduced the levels of salivary MS in a significant way. However, a combination of probiotic and xylitol gums did not seem to enhance this effect.