Xylitol Chewing Gum On Plaque Accumulation During Fixed Orthodontic Treatment

OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed to investigate the effect of xylitol chewing gum on the plaque accumulation during treatment with fixed orthodontic appliances. METHODS: The investigation consisted of a prospective design with 20 healthy orthodontic patients. The subjects were instructed to chew 2 pieces of a test or a control gum three times every day for a 14-days period of experiment. The test gum contained 1300 mg xylitol per serving (2 pieces of gum) while the control gum was sweetened with sorbitol. At baseline and after 14 days the plaque were collected from bucco-cervical surfaces around brackets of premolar and front teeth and then dry weighted. RESULT: The means and ± SD of plaque weight in the test group at baseline and after 14 days were 2.75 mg ± 2.59 mg and 0.92 mg ± 1.23 mg respectively, while the means and ± SD of plaque weight in the control group baseline and after 14 days were: 2.13 mg ± 0.94 mg and 2.37 mg ± 0.89 mg respectively. After one way ANOVA and post hoc test, there was no difference between plaque weight in the test and control group at baseline (p = 0.2) while the plaque weight in the test group were significantly lower than the control group after 14 (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: A 14-days use of xylitol-containing chewing gums, corresponding to a daily amount of 4 grams of xylitol, could eliminate the plaque accumulation in fixed orthodontic patients.