Having a set of healthy, white teeth is something many people aspire to. Influenced by television commercials, many people have likely developed the habit of chewing gum. Besides its fresh and sweet flavor, gum also helps to eliminate bad breath. However, is relying on gum to protect your teeth really a reliable method? Additionally, if you accidentally swallow gum, will it have an adverse effect on your digestive system? To unravel this "mystery," let's break it down for you below.
Sugar-containing gum erodes teeth, while sugar-free gum is beneficial for oral health
Generally speaking, gum can be divided into two types: sugar-containing gum and sugar-free gum.
First, let's talk about sugar-containing gum. Compared to sugar-free gum, it contains additional ingredients like sweeteners and mint flavoring to improve taste. However, due to its high sugar content, long-term chewing can lead to the proliferation of bacteria in the mouth, which in turn causes cavities.
Next, let's discuss sugar-free gum. This type of gum uses sugar substitutes as sweeteners. Although it can also release a sweet taste, because these substitutes are not fermentable, the bacteria in the mouth will gradually decrease due to a lack of nutrients, which indirectly protects our teeth.
From the above, it's clear that sugar-containing gum erodes teeth, while sugar-free gum is beneficial for oral health. Therefore, we should be careful when buying gum and check its type.
The downsides of chewing gum long-term
Chewing sugar-free gum helps maintain the pH balance in the mouth and can reduce the likelihood of cavities. However, although sugar-free gum is not very harmful to teeth, using it to clean your teeth instead of brushing is actually detrimental. Long-term gum chewing not only fails to protect your teeth but can actually harm them! Besides the aforementioned downside of sugar-containing gum eroding teeth, long-term gum chewing has the following two additional drawbacks:
1. It can damage dental fillings
Studies have found that frequent gum chewing can damage materials used in dental fillings. If you have fillings that contain mercury, chewing gum might release this mercury, potentially causing harm to your organs and bodily systems.
2. It can burden the temporomandibular joint (TMJ)
Long periods of chewing can keep the chewing muscles in a constant state of tension, thereby increasing the burden on the TMJ. It may also lead to teeth grinding during sleep, affecting sleep quality. Generally, it's best to limit gum chewing to within 15 minutes.
Does swallowing gum really stick to your intestines?
When we were children, we often heard our elders warn us to be careful with gum and never swallow it, or it would stick to our intestines and not come out. Is this really true?
In fact, swallowing gum does not have a significant impact on the body because the human digestive tract has very smooth inner walls, so the gum will not stick. Furthermore, although gum is difficult to digest, its stickiness disappears under the action of stomach acid, allowing it to be normally passed through the digestive tract. However, although swallowing gum isn't particularly harmful, it is not recommended, as it is made from natural resin and is not easily digestible.
In summary, using gum as a method for protecting your teeth is not very reliable. Sugar-containing gum erodes teeth, while only sugar-free gum is beneficial for oral health. Moreover, excessive chewing doesn't protect teeth and can even harm them. Therefore, we should still focus on proper brushing as our primary method of dental care.