Xylitol gum?

So, because of my dental woes, my dental hygienist recommended that I start using a prescription toothpaste and chew xylitol gum after meals. I was given samples of a gum specifically formulated for this purpose, Spry, and liked it well enough to go pick up a container of it. I'm trying to get myself in the habit of chewing this gum after I eat. Supposedly, xylitol "starves" the bacteria in the mouth; the bacteria is attracted to xylitol because it's a sugar alcohol, but xylitol isn't the food source the bacteria thinks it is. Lots of sugarfree gums have xylitol in them, like Trident. I've also read that it can be beneficial for people with ear and sinus problems, since it helps control the amount of bacteria in the mouth, preventing them from migrating to those areas and causing issues.

Do you chew gum after you eat? Do you chew gum in general or do you look for gum with xylitol in it? If you have tried it, did it work for you?

 

I used to chew gum when I was younger. I think about it now and again because I kind of miss it.

I stopped eating most candy as I got older, mainly for health reasons. I would eat sweets like chocolate and dessert stuffs now and again, but candy was only a rare treat. Gum was one of those things I would avoid.

I've actually thought about chewing gum because it's supposed to help a bit with stress. Dental benefits would be an added bonus.

This xylitol stuff is apparently a thing now in the gum industry. Maybe I'll try it out.

 

The flavor doesn't last with the kind I got, Spry, but I don't want to chew gum for an extensive period of time. I chew the piece until the flavor is gone and spit it out.

 

I don't tend to chew for a long time either. I think it's the idea of having the same thing in my mouth for a certain period. After a while, it's spit or swallow.

 

Hey, clean teeth are important to overall health. I'm really hopeful this stuff works for me. Having a 12mm periodontal pocket on a rear molar is no joke.

Also, it's depressing to go to the dentist and only ever receive bad news. I blame my bacteria, and according to my dentist friend, I'm free to do so. Some people just have oral bacteria that is very cariogenic.

 

Wow. Suddenly chewing gum sounds like a fantastic idea.

And on the opposite end, some of us are lucky.

Take my father, for example. I imagine there are many dogs that have had more dental services than this man. He went decades without visiting a dentist before my mother issued an ultimatum. He went but didn't have anything wrong. He did recently get a cavity filled, but I think it was his first one. (And now he's 66, so that's a pretty good record.) I also remember growing up and knowing automatically which toothbrush was his: the one with the yellowed and frayed bristles from years of service. (I know....)

I thank him for his genetics. I've been lucky too. I've had a few cavities as a youth, but I didn't have the best oral hygiene habits (plus I had a pretty bad sweet tooth for years).

When I started to look after myself on all health fronts, I realized that I had gone about 7 years without a checkup. When I went in, nothing was wrong. The hygienist actually said he couldn't believe it had been 7 whole years, as it didn't look like it. (My brushing habits had greatly improved by then.)

I even had a dentist recently tell me that I only had to visit him once a year. I switched dentists though, because that one retired. My current dentist hasn't had to do any work on me besides checking me out and looking at x-rays (*knocks on wood*). He actually told me that he was going to hold off on updating my x-ray even though it's been a year. I'm going to have that done in the spring.

Now I'm going to go buy some gum.

 

Baraka_Guru, that's how my husband is. According to my dentist friend, oral bacteria are transmitted from parent to child via kissing and food-sharing when the child is a baby. So, I have parents with bad oral bacteria, and my husband got lucky. I told him he's in charge of kissing the baby and feeding it.

Oh, and the periodontal pocket is the fault of my wisdom tooth pressing on my rear molar because the wisdom tooth is sideways, but I also have three cavities to get filled. This is why they also gave me prescription toothpaste.

 

The Spry I have comes in a container that seals very well with a screwtop, and it hasn't stuck to any of my fillings. I have both types--composite and amalgam.

 

Yeah, it looks like Spry is the real deal.

I was just at the drug store and all the big brands had aspartame and all kinds of other shit in their gum. The xylitol (if it had any) seemed to be added as a marketing gimmick. Trident's product read: chew two pieces four times a day. Spry's is: chew at least three but preferably five per day. The difference is that Spry is a xylitol gum. Trident is a gum with added xylitol.

I'll have to go to the health food store on Monday, as I think they carry Spry there. I need one or two other things anyway.

 

Baraka_Guru, I've tried several of the flavors, thanks to the free samples I got from the dentist, and while I bought the peppermint flavor and like it, the cinnamon and fruit flavors are also good. I'm not a fan of spearmint in general, so that may be why I didn't like the spearmint. I didn't get to try the green tea flavor, but I'm intrigued by it, and might get a small pack of it to try. Spry is pretty readily available where I am, fortunately.

 

I'm totally going to hit up the green tea flavour if I find it.

 

Mentos Gum has xylitol. So does their offshoot brand Up2U. We have a never-ending supply of these gums, thanks to my husband's work. I chew it often. Though one disadvantage (or advantage?) with Xylitol is that it's a mild laxative.