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Updated: May 1, 2026

Oral Biofilm Sampling for Microbiome Analysis in Healthy Children
Published on: December 31, 2017
Effects of short-term xylitol gum chewing on the oral microbiome
Eva Söderling1, Mohamed ElSalhy, Eino Honkala
1Institute of Dentistry, University of Turku, Lemminkäisenkatu 2, 20520, Turku, Finland, eva.soderling@utu.fi.
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to determine the effects of short-term xylitol gum chewing on the salivary microbiota of children.
Materials And Methods:
The study was a randomised, controlled, double-blind trial. Healthy children used xylitol chewing gum (xylitol group, n = 35) or sorbitol chewing gum (control group, n = 38) for 5 weeks. The daily dose of xylitol/sorbitol was approximately 6 g/day. At baseline and at the end of the test period, unstimulated and paraffin-stimulated saliva were collected. The microbial composition of the saliva was assessed using human oral microbe identification microarray (HOMIM). Mutans streptococci (MS) were plate cultured.
Results:
As judged by HOMIM results, no xylitol-induced changes in the salivary microbiota took place in the xylitol group. In the control group, Veillonella atypica showed a significant decrease (p = 0.0001). The xylitol gum chewing decreased viable counts of MS in both stimulated (p = 0.006) and unstimulated (p = 0.002) saliva, but similar effects were also seen in the control group.
Conclusions:
The use of xylitol gum decreased MS, in general, but did not change the salivary microbial composition.
Clinical Relevance:
Short-term consumption of xylitol had no impact on the composition of the salivary microbiota, but resulted in a decrease in the levels of MS.
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