TTC_05_30_18_Vol.14-No.31.p1-12

May 30 - June 5, 2018 www.TheTownCommon.com Page
Health & Wellness
By J. Peter St. Clair, DMD
You may have heard your
dental hygienist tell you to brush
and floss more, but what about
chewing more gum?
In a study published in PLOS
One, researchers found that
chewing gum may remove as
much bacteria as brushing without
toothpaste or flossing. The study
was funded by Wrigley……for
obvious reasons I imagine.
“This study was initiated as a
method development study to
determine the number of bacteria
that are trapped in a piece of
sugar-free gum,” said one of
the authors. “According to our
knowledge, this is the first time
that an estimate of the number
of bacteria trapped in a piece of
chewed gum is determined.”
For their research, Wessel and
colleagues included five healthy
volunteers from the department
of biomedical engineering and
asked them to chew two types
of commercially available sugarfree
chewing gums for varying
amounts of time up to 10
minutes.
“We discuss [in the study] that
Just because your local hospital
received a good rating in the past
doesn’t mean the rating has stayed
the same. Things change, for good
and for bad. If you’re about to
have surgery or need to pick out a
new medical facility, check online
sites to see what the latest scores
are for hospitals near you.
Leapfrog Group is one of the
organizations that collects data
and reports hospital performance
through its Hospital Safety Grade.
Go online to www.leapfroggroup.
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by targeting different areas in
the mouth, sugar-free chewing
gum removes comparable
amounts of bacteria to those
removed by flossing and a clean
toothbrush without toothpaste,”
Wessel said. “This was done for
perspective only and not meant
to compare effectiveness of both
techniques.”
The researchers used numerous
methods to quantify and qualify
numbers of oral bacteria trapped
in chewed gum. What they
concluded was that daily gum
chewing reduces the bacterial
load in the oral cavity over time.
The maximum bacteria were
trapped during the initial
chewing period, after which a
slow decrease over time up to
10 minutes was observed. This
decline was seen with both
methods regardless of the type of
gum involved.
While the initial gum bases are
most adhesive to oral bacteria,
continued chewing changes
the structure of the gum and
decreases the hardness because
of salivary uptake and release of
water-soluble components, the
study authors noted.
“This presumably affects the
adhesion of bacteria to the gum,
causing a release of initially
trapped, more weakly adhering
bacteria from the gum,” they
wrote.
They reported that, assuming
org and look for Compare
Hospitals. Put in your city and
state and search within 10 to 200
miles from you.
The ratings are updated twice a
year to reflect changes in the level
of care. Look for information
under inpatient care, medication
safety, injections, injuries and
more.
If, for example, your hospital
has been dinged two years in a
row for post-surgical infection
rates, there’s a problem there that
hasn’t gone away. If your hospital
scores low in using bar codes to
dispense medication (scanning
the patient wrist band before
giving medication), you’ll know
that’s something to keep an eye
on, especially if you’re asleep
and unaware of being given
medication. If your hospital
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removes around 10% of the oral
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microbial load in saliva. They
compared this to use of a new,
clean toothbrush without any
toothpaste and found that it
Good health
removed about the same amount
of bacteria as the gum chewing.
isn’t acciDENTAL
The mechanical action of floss
With continually emerging evidence that a
removes a comparable number
healthy mouth makes a healthier body, you owe it to
of bacteria, as established in an yourself and your body to receive exceptional dental care.
unpublished
The
pilot study.
Town
All Phases of Dental
Comm
Care Including:
authors emphasized that
• Grinding/Clenching/TMJ Therapy
brushing and flossing remain
• Sleep Apnea/Snoring Treatment
more effective in reaching many
areas in the mouth, and that
Learn More: www.stclairdmd.com
sugar-free chewing gum should
not be seen as a replacement
but as an addition to both
techniques.
The study findings may
promote the development of gum
that selectively removes specific
disease-related bacteria from the
human oral cavity, for instance
by using porous type calcium
carbonate, the authors noted.
Dr. St. Clair maintains a private
dental practice in Rowley and
Newburyport dedicated to healthcentered
family dentistry. If there
The Town Common
are certain topics you would like to
see written about or questions you
have please email them to him at
jpstclair@stclairdmd.com. You can
view all previously written columns
at www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com/
blog.
How Does Your Hospital Stack Up?
has a zero rate of post-surgical
infections, that’s something else
you need to know.
Be sure to click the blue icon
to read more about the rating for
each item. In some cases a low
number of bars is good, in others
it indicates a problem.
What about your doctor,
especially if you’re about to see
a new one? First ask people you
know for recommendations or
comments. Then go online to
HealthGrades (www.healthgrades.
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down to read comments written www.visitingangels.com/newburyport
by other patients. Keep in mind,
however, that as with everything
else online, you really don’t know
who has written those reviews.
(c) 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.
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