Comparative effects of xylitol- and sucrose-sweetened chew tablets and chewing gums on plaque quantity

The effects of chewing gums and chew tablets sweetened with sucrose or xylitol on the quantity and adhesivity of dental plaque were studied with 14 volunteer dental students (mean age 23.2). The subjects participated in a four-phase study in which one of four different test products was used during each period. The 3-d periods were interspaced with 4-d normalization phases. The following four experimental products were tested: chewing gums (CG) and chew tablets (CT), sweetened with sucrose (s) or xylitol (x). The amount of plaque was determined through an automatic planimetric procedure on teeth treated with Dentotest. The total plaque areas before brushing were significantly larger in the CTs group compared with the CTx group. After brushing, the plaque areas remained larger in the CTs group. In the determination of the thick plaque areas, the use of CTx was associated with significantly smaller plaque scores than the use of CTs. In the adhesivity studies CGx consistently yielded the lowest plaque scores, but the differences between x and s were not significant. The comparison between CT and CG suggested that CTx produced significantly smaller plaque scores than CGx before brushing, but not after. This finding was considered to result from the differences involved in the texture and chemical composition between tablets and chewing gums. The present study showed that the use of CGx and CTx was associated with clinically more advantageous plaque effects than the use of corresponding products sweetened with sucrose.