Chewing Gum

Trident, Americas leading brand of chewing gum has just released some new packaging in which the individual pieces of gum (chiclets, little white squares), which have smiles on them, making the pieces of gum look like teeth in the smile. This was done to raise awareness to the fact that sugar free chewing gum (which Trident is) is actually good for the teeth. Let us explain why this is the case, as many people still regard chewing gum as nothing more than mint flavoured candy.

The truth about gum

Gum is made from the gum tree that is native to North America, but can be found all the way South to the Amazonas basin. The tree produces a sticky sap that hardens into chewing gum, and if you do not sweeten it, then it is naturally sugar free, sticky, chewy but does not have much flavour. This is why mint flavour and bubble gum flavour is added, along with sugar. But most gum manufacturers now carry sugar free gum, as parents became wise to the fact that kids should not eat sugar. Chewing gum can help you with your TMJ problems, can build the muscles in your face that you use to bite and chew with, and chewing gum can also remove plaque and tartar and break up biofilm. This is another reason why mint gum is considered to be especially good, because mint breaks up biofilm and tastes great as well.

Possible issues

Some issues can arise though. For instance, if you have crowns or dental implants, they may be loosened from the chewing gum, and may cause the crowns to become dislodged. Make sure that your crowns are well attached and cemented properly to your dental implant or to the remains of your teeth. You should not chew gum if your healing time is not up for your dental implant. You have to wait until osseointegration is complete, and your dental implant has been accepted and your jawbone has grown in and around the implant. Otherwise, you may dislodge the dental implant by applying occlusal forces (the forces of biting and chewing) to the area before the dental implant is ready to be loaded. This can have catastrophic outcomes, as the dental implant can move about, causing peri-implantitis (the disintegration of jawbone from around the dental implant), and eventually dental implant failure, and a dislodged dental implant can cause all kinds of damage to the hard and soft tissues in your mouth.

image: 1.