Trident with xylitol

Sugary Gum Creates Plaque – Gum that contains sugar, as with any food that contains sugar, affects dental health adversely. Sugar is a primary component of plaque, the nasty build-up that can create cavities and cause gum disease. If you are chewing gum that is made with sugar, you’re simply compounding any dental health problems you may already have. Brush your teeth as soon as you can.

Sugar-Free Gum Removes Food Particles – Sugar-free gum can be helpful in dental health. The surface of the gum can actually help to remove trapped food particles from between the teeth and can also help remove built-up sugar from the teeth.

Sugar-Free Gum Prevents Plaque Build Up – Because sugar-free gum helps to remove food particles and sugar from the surface of the teeth, it helps to prevent plaque from forming. Preventing plaque build-up is of huge benefit to general dental health.

Sugar-Free Gum Freshens Breath – Finally, chewing some sort of mint-flavored, sugar-free gum also helps to freshen the breath. Hard mints have the same breath-freshening effect, but they do not help to remove food particles from the teeth.

Information for this post was originally written by Annie Mueller for eHow.com and is republished under a Creative Commons Attribution License.