國小學童嚼食木糖醇口香糖降低牙菌斑之成效研究

The Effects of Reducing Dental Plaque by Chewing Xylitol Gum for School Children

羅美惠(Mei-Hui Lo) ； 黃純德(Shun-Te Huang) ； 蕭思郁(Szu-Yu Hsiao)

《Taiwan Journal of Oral Medicine & Health Sciences》 20卷1期 (2004/04) Pp. 31-40

https://doi.org/10.7059/TJOMHS.200404.0031

摘要

Background and Purpose:
Chewing xylitol gum can prevent caries due to increase saliva secretion，increase pH value to inhibit demineralization, remove dental plaque and reduce gingivitis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of reducing dental plaque by chewing xylitol chewing gum compared to that by brushing teeth.
Material and Method:
Three target groups were selected from primary, junior and senior grade in an elementary school. Each grade had 70 school children and was divided into control and experimental group; one for brushing teeth and the other for chewing xylitol gum. Prior to oral examination, Red Code indicator was painted on teeth and the effect of reduction of dental plaque was evaluated by the “O’Leary et al. (1972): Plaque Control Record (PCR)” method before and after meal; either by brushing teeth or chewing xylitol gum 10 minutes after meals. Then data were analyzed by JMP statistic soft ware.
Results:
The number of target samples consisted of 106 boys (50.78%) and 104 girls (49.52%) with an equal number of school children selected from primary, junior and senior grades. The effect of removing dental plaque by brushing teeth was better than by chewing xylitol gum (32.28 ± 17.83 and 20.15 ± 12.84; Respectively), but the effect of chewing xylitol gum was still impressive. On the other hand, a significantly statistical difference was found in chewing gum group (p＜0.0078); boys had a better effect than girls (25.63 ± 11.75 and 18.16 ± 12.71; Respectively). The effect of reducing dental plaque either by brushing teeth or by chewing gum group showed significant differences as the grade goes higher (p＜0.0001 and p＜0.0262; Respectively). A positive correlation indicated an improvement among primary, junior and senior school children for the brushing teeth group (18.92 ± 11.19, 31.59 ± 13.83 and 46.32 ± 16.47; Respectively). But there was no evidence of improvement among primary, junior and senior school children for the chewing gum group (21.15 ± 12.10, 15.64 ± 11.74 and 23.67 ± 13.62; Respectively). Further-more, the effect of reducing dental plaque on both lingual sides showed significant differences among grades compared to dental plaque on buccal sides for chewing gum group (p value＜0.0003 and p=0.7250; Respectively).
Conclusion:
Brushing teeth is the best way to reduce dental plaque. But still, chewing xylitol gum has a half effect in removing dental plaque on lingual sides comparing to brush teeth, and this outcome is impressive. When traveling in a situation, not in proper time or confined to a location that makes oral care maintenance difficulty, chewing xylitol gum to reduce dental plaque is a possible option.

關鍵字

木糖醇 ； 口香糖 ； 刷牙 ； 牙菌斑

並列摘要

Background and Purpose:
Chewing xylitol gum can prevent caries due to increase saliva secretion，increase pH value to inhibit demineralization, remove dental plaque and reduce gingivitis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of reducing dental plaque by chewing xylitol chewing gum compared to that by brushing teeth.
Material and Method:
Three target groups were selected from primary, junior and senior grade in an elementary school. Each grade had 70 school children and was divided into control and experimental group; one for brushing teeth and the other for chewing xylitol gum. Prior to oral examination, Red Code indicator was painted on teeth and the effect of reduction of dental plaque was evaluated by the “O’Leary et al. (1972): Plaque Control Record (PCR)” method before and after meal; either by brushing teeth or chewing xylitol gum 10 minutes after meals. Then data were analyzed by JMP statistic soft ware.
Results:
The number of target samples consisted of 106 boys (50.78%) and 104 girls (49.52%) with an equal number of school children selected from primary, junior and senior grades. The effect of removing dental plaque by brushing teeth was better than by chewing xylitol gum (32.28 ± 17.83 and 20.15 ± 12.84; Respectively), but the effect of chewing xylitol gum was still impressive. On the other hand, a significantly statistical difference was found in chewing gum group (p＜0.0078); boys had a better effect than girls (25.63 ± 11.75 and 18.16 ± 12.71; Respectively). The effect of reducing dental plaque either by brushing teeth or by chewing gum group showed significant differences as the grade goes higher (p＜0.0001 and p＜0.0262; Respectively). A positive correlation indicated an improvement among primary, junior and senior school children for the brushing teeth group (18.92 ± 11.19, 31.59 ± 13.83 and 46.32 ± 16.47; Respectively). But there was no evidence of improvement among primary, junior and senior school children for the chewing gum group (21.15 ± 12.10, 15.64 ± 11.74 and 23.67 ± 13.62; Respectively). Further-more, the effect of reducing dental plaque on both lingual sides showed significant differences among grades compared to dental plaque on buccal sides for chewing gum group (p value＜0.0003 and p=0.7250; Respectively).
Conclusion:
Brushing teeth is the best way to reduce dental plaque. But still, chewing xylitol gum has a half effect in removing dental plaque on lingual sides comparing to brush teeth, and this outcome is impressive. When traveling in a situation, not in proper time or confined to a location that makes oral care maintenance difficulty, chewing xylitol gum to reduce dental plaque is a possible option.

並列關鍵字

xylitol ； chewing gum ； brush teeth ； dental plaque