Recent study from the University of Groningen, Netherlands has revealed the positive effect of chewing gums. Chewing of gum not only helps in exercising the facial muscles, but it also helps in contributing maintenance of oral health as it eradicates harmful bacteria from mouths.
According to the research, 100 million bacteria can be removed by just a single piece of chewing gum, which means, the gum could be as effective as flossing. However, a gum has the highest level of efficiency in the first 30 seconds, where it can trap maximum amount of bacteria. After the first half minute, the efficiency decreases drastically.
Researchers added that not all gum gave the same result. Sugar free gums scored far better relatively since the sugar in the gums helps in feeding the oral bacteria.
To prove their point, researchers conducted an experiment where certain amount of bacteria was finger-chewed into the mouths of volunteers. Then for the next 10 minutes, they were told to chew gum.
100 million bacteria were discovered on every piece of chewed gum and as the rate of chewing increased, the number of bacteria too increased. Visualization of trapped bacteria could be seen by scanning-electron-microscopy.
Researchers envision that their observation could lead to fabricate gum that might be able to remove certain disease causing bacteria from mouths.
Image: Collective Evolution
Source: Plos One
