Chewing gum for oral hygiene

Chewing gum, especially cinnamon-flavoured gum, may keep bad breath away. Recent research has shown that cinnamon-flavoured gum kills bacteria that are linked to bad breath. Researchers suspect that a plant oil called cinnamic aldehyde, used for flavouring cinnamon gum, helps kill bacteria. But even gum without cinnamic aldehyde killed a substantial percentage of bad-breath bacteria, suggesting that other natural flavourings also play a role. Bacteria in the mouth are thought to contribute to bad breath by producing substances called volatile sulphur compounds. Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA, found that several varieties of plant essential oils suppress the growth of bacteria that can cause cavities and oral infections. In laboratory tests, some of these oils also prevent the growth of three species of oral bacteria associated with bad breath and the production of volatile compounds that cause the unpleasant smell. The researchers tested the effect of plant essential oils in chewing gum. They evaluated the effect of a particular chewing gum brand, which contains a variety of plant essential oils, including cinnamic aldehyde. The study also included a version of the gum that had the cinnamic aldehyde removed but still contained other plant essential oils. Participants also chewed a gum base that had neither flavours nor oils. The researchers collected saliva samples before and after the 15 people chewed gum for 20 minutes, and then compared pre- and post-chewing bacteria levels.It was found that bacteria levels dropped after chewing gum with and without cinnamic aldehyde. Levels of bacteria that produce the sulphur compounds dropped by about 50 percent after chewing the gum with cinnamic aldehyde. Even without the cinnamon flavouring, bacteria levels dropped by about 40 percent after chewing gum. But the unflavoured variety of gum, which did not contain any plant oils, did not have an effect on bacteria levels.

The study shows that chewing gum can be considered as a functional food, having a significant impact on oral hygiene over the short term, if it contains anti-microbial agents such as cinnamic aldehyde or other natural active compounds. It does not only mask bad breath but also eliminates the bacteria that cause it, at least temporarily.

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