Vidya Manoharan, Arun kumar Sivanraj, Vijay Anand, Amrutha Joy

ABSTRACT

Background: Chewing sugar-free gums is a convenient way to increase salivary flow. Salivary flow increases in response to both gustatory (taste) and mechanical (chewing) stimuli, and chewing gum can provide both of these stimuli. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of fruit and mint flavored sucrose free chewing gum on salivary flow rate and pH. Methods: Twenty dental student volunteers (8 men and 12 women) having good general and oral health with the mean age of 20 years, were instructed to collect unstimulated saliva for 5 min. Stimulated saliva was collected at the intervals of 0-1, 1–3, and 3–6 minutes after chewing one of the four flavored chewing gums. The salivary flow rate and pH was measured for five consecutive days. The amount of saliva was calculated as (1?g = 1?mL) and flow rate was calculated as (mL/min). Results: The flow rate of fruit flavored chewing gums reached its peak at 1st minute of stimulation compared to mint flavored which reached at the 6th minute. The mint flavored gums had about one whole pH unit greater than the pH of fruit-flavored gums. With fruit-flavored gums, the pH values slightly increased with each fruit-flavored gum pellet, but this effect was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Chewing sucrose free gum serves a critical function in caries reduction. Clinicians should stress to patients the additional positive benefits beyond caries prevention, including fresh breath, improved esthetics, and increased comfort, especially for those patients who have dry mouth.