 |
| Title |
The Effectiveness Of Xylitol In Reducing caries |
| Clinical Question |
Are commercially available xylitol-containing gums more effective in reducing caries compared to other sugarless gums? |
| Clinical Bottom Line |
The xylitol containing gum on the market is more effective than other sugarless (sorbitol-containing) gum in reducing caries. (See Comments on the CAT below) |
| Best Evidence |
(you may view more info by clicking on the PubMed ID link) |
| PubMed ID |
Author / Year |
Patient Group |
Study type
(level of evidence) |
| #1) 8600188 | Makinen/1995 | 1277 children (mean age, 10.2 years) | Double-Blind Controlled Cohort study | | Key results | Participants were double blinded and were assigned into nine different groups: no gum use, four xylitol groups, two xylitol-sorbitol groups, one sorbitol group. After 40 months later, four dentist performed caries detection on all participants by means of a modified WHO procedure. The four xylitol gums were most effective in reducing caries rates and the most effective agent being a 100% xylitol pellet gum. The relative risk relative to no gum was 0.27, 95% confidence interval was from 0.20 to 0.36 and P was 0.0001. | |
| Evidence Search |
PubMed search “Dental Caries”[Mesh] AND “xylitol”[Mesh] |
Comments on
The Evidence |
This article is valid; This study was a cohort study. The subjects were double-blinded. The length of time for the study was long enough to see the valid outcome. The participants were given different interventions such as xyliotol and sorbitol. There was an adequate follow up and the end-point measurement method was valid. |
| Applicability |
The evidence presented from the data is applicable to any dentist when determining whether xylitol-containing gum is an effective therapeutic way to reduce dental caries. |
| Specialty/Discipline |
(Public Health) (General Dentistry) (Dental Hygiene) |
| Keywords |
Xylitol, dental caries, gum
|
| ID# |
823 |
| Date of submission: |
03/24/2011 |
| E-mail |
parks4@livemail.uthscsa.edu |
| Author |
Semyee Park |
| Co-author(s) |
|
| Co-author(s) e-mail |
|
| Faculty mentor/Co-author |
Bennett T. Amaechi, BDS, MSc, PhD |
| Faculty mentor/Co-author e-mail |
Amaechi@uthscsa.edu |
Basic Science Rationale
(Mechanisms that may account for and/or explain the clinical question, i.e. is the answer to the clinical question consistent with basic biological, physical and/or behavioral science principles, laws and research?) |
post a rationale |
| None available | |
|
Comments and Evidence-Based Updates on the CAT
(FOR PRACTICING DENTISTS', FACULTY, RESIDENTS and/or STUDENTS COMMENTS ON PUBLISHED CATs) |
post a comment |
by Shreya Ruxmohan & Adel Alqarni (San Antonio, TX & Riyadh) on 06/25/2014
A PubMed and Trip database search was conducted in June 2014 to find newer studies associated with this topic. A more recent review has been published by Burt 2006 (PubMed ID 16521385) discussing the benefits of xylitol-sweetened chewing gum over sorbitol-sweetened gum in preventing caries. Xylitol-sweetened gum was claimed to be non-cariogenic in all of the studies that were reviewed, and even anti-cariogenic in some studies, although further testing needs to be done to support the latter claims. | |
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