Does chewing gum, prevent cavities?

I brush once. I chew gum. daily. Since, the gum chewing, I will be honest, no cavities on last dental appointment. I always had cavities. Every appointment, I went to. Always one. Since, the gum chewing. No more cavities. Don't go by my experience, tell me your thoughts on gum chewing and preventing cavities.

It definitely helps, only when it is sugar free gum. It stimulates the saliva which helps to naturally clean the teeth. By the way, you should brush at least 2x a day and floss too.....

I have read that chewing sugarless gum does indeed prevent cavities. I would assume that in increases saliva and probably removes food from between your teeth.

Not all gums are equal, as the above posters correctly point out.

Only sugarless gum can prevent cavities. Gums sweetened with sugar actually feeds the germs that causes cavities and should be avoided like the plague.

Sugarless gum protects teeth in the following manner:

- Salivation helps neutralize acids that attack teeth, because saliva contains bicarbonate, which is a very good buffering agent.

- Salivation and the chewing action also tends to remove gross deposits of food debris.

- Some sugarless gums contain xylitol, which has been shown to retard growth of cavity-causing bacteria.

While chewing sugarless gum is a great way to help your teeth along, you still need to remove the bacteria deposits that the gum can't reach between your teeth-- Which means you also need to floss and brush.

Hope this helps.

Not sugar gum like hubba bubba or bubbleicious.
sugar free gum like trident definetly helps/...
but only if you brush and floss daily!

Last post was informative, but missed one thing.

Chewing gum 'constantly' causes a LOT of wear on your jaw joints. Especially if you chew until the gum gets tough and harder -- because your jaw has to work hard and in repeated motions to keep it chewing.

You can (longer term) damage the nerves, salivary glands, and actually wear the bone away at the point where your jaw bone is closest to your skull.

From California Dental Association.

What is xylitol?
Xylitol is a natural sugar alcohol that helps prevents cavities. You may recognize other sugar alcohols used in sugarless products, such as mannitol and sorbitol. Xylitol is the sugar alcohol that shows the greatest promise for cavity prevention. It is equal in sweetness and volume to sugar and the granular form can be used in many of the ways that sugar is used, including to sweeten cereals and hot beverages and for baking (except when sugar is needed for yeast to rise). HAVE A DIVINE DAY AND GOODLUCK