Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether chewing gum affects mask contamination. Methodology and results: Two groups of participants were requested to wear a mask for 15 min with (experimental group) or without (control group) chewing gum. Then, masks were collected and CFU calculation and 16S rDNA sequencing was performed. We found that temperature, humidity and bacterial CFU inside of the mask significantly increased when wearing a mask while chewing gum. Staphylococcus epidermidis was found in both groups. Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus haemolyticus, Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus parasanguinis and Bacillus wiedmannii were found in only the experimental group. Conclusion, significance and impact of study Chewing gum significantly increased the temperature, humidity and bacterial CFU inside the mask. Staphylococcus epidermidis, S. aureus, S. haemolyticus, S. oralis, S. parasanguinis and B. wiedmannii were detected inside the mask after chewing gum.
Chewing Gum ; Food Contamination

PURPOSE: This study aim to determine the effect of chewing gum on the reduction of postoperative ileus and recovery after surgery. METHODS: The study was conducted as a randomized controlled trial among 82 patients who underwent spine surgery between May 2015 and October 2015. Patients in experimental group chewed sugarless gum 3 times daily for 30 minutes each time until POD 5. Abdominal discomfort, the first defecation, and CAS score (Constipation Assessment Scale) were monitored. RESULTS: After the experiment, abdominal discomfort was significantly decreased in the experimental group compared to that of the control group (F=2.46, p=.044). However, the first defecation occurred on postoperative hour 69.6 in the chewing gum group and on hour 60.2 in the control group (t=−1.63, p=.107). CAS was significantly decreased in the experimental group compared to that of the control group (F=3.51, p=.012). CONCLUSION: Chewing gum is expected to help patient recover after surgery as safe nurse intervention which can reduce abdominal discomfort and constipation during early postoperative days after spine surgery.
Chewing Gum ; Constipation ; Defecation ; Gingiva ; Humans ; Ileus ; Mastication ; Spine

OBJECTIVETo study the anti-halitosis effect of sugar-free chewing gum through their influence on odor induced by cysteine.

METHODSTen volunteers were randomly divided into the treatment group and the untreated group; each group consisted of five volunteers. All volunteers consented to participate in a test in which breath odor was induced by cysteine. After the test, the treatment group chewed sugar-free chewing gum for 1 min, whereas the untreated group did not undergo any treatment. The effectiveness was determined by the percent reduction of H2S, CH3SH, and (CH3)2S response after the volunteers chewed gum for 1, 10, and 20 min.

RESULTSAt 1, 10, and 20 min, H2S of the treatment group was reduced by 82.68%, 92.27%, 97.47%, respectively, CH3SH was reduced by 65.49%, 73.79%, and 82.89%, respectively, and (CH3)2S was reduced by 60.45%, 73.82%, and 59.72%, respectively. The differences between the two groups at different times were significant (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONChewing gum can effectively inhibit cysteine-induced odor.

Chewing Gum ; Cysteine ; metabolism ; Halitosis ; therapy ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the bleaching effect of chewing gum containing amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP), hydroxyapatite (HA), and tricalcium pyrophosphate (TSP) on human enamel. METHODS: Seventy-three subjects aged 20-30 years were recruited after obtaining their informed consent and approval of the Institutional Review Board. All subjects were randomly assigned to the following four groups: (I) negative control group; (II) 50% gum group; (III) 100% gum group; and (IV) positive control group (10% carbamide peroxide). They received gum containing ACP, HA, and TSP, three times a day, for 4 weeks. Group IV also received 10% CP application using individual trays, once a day, for 2 weeks. Color change was measured using the Shade Eye-NCC colorimeter at weekly intervals, during the 4-week period. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 18.0. RESULTS: Color changes (DeltaE*) were significantly different among the groups at 2 and 4 weeks after chewing the gum (P<0.05). Given that bleaching effect of Group IV was 100%, bleaching effects of Group III, Group II, and Group I were 54%, 46%, and 36%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Chewing gum containing ACP, HA, and TSP was effective enough to bleach the human enamel. Further comprehensive studies and assessment will be required to ascertain the bleaching effects and mechanism of chewing gum containing various components such as ACP, HA, and TSP using various methods of experiment and analysis.
Aged ; Calcium ; Calcium Phosphates ; Chewing Gum ; Dental Enamel ; Diphosphates ; Durapatite ; Ethics Committees, Research ; Gingiva ; Humans ; Informed Consent ; Mastication ; Urea

OBJECTIVETo examine the safety and efficacy of chewing gum in promoting intestinal function recovery after colorectal surgery.

METHODSA thorough search of PubMed, Cochrane Library, CNKI, CBM and Wanfang data was performed. Randomized controlled trials(RCTs) about efficacy and safety of chewing gum in promoting intestinal function recovery after colorectal surgery were collected and meta-analysis was carried out with RevMan 5.0 software.

RESULTSThirteen RCTs including 993 patients were enrolled in this study with 499 patients in the chewing gum group and 494 patients in control group. Meta-analysis revealed that chewing gum could significantly reduce the time to first passage of flatus(MD=-11.66 h, 95%CI:-17.26--6.07, P<0.05), the time to the first defecation (MD=-32.31 h, 95%CI:-56.89--7.73, P<0.05), and postoperative hospital stay(MD=-1.10 d, 95%CI:-1.93--0.27, P<0.05) after colorectal surgery. Patients in chewing gum group also experienced less discomfort from bowel distension(OR=0.52, 95%CI:0.35-0.80, P<0.05) due to postoperative paralytic ileus. No significant difference in the incidence of nausea and vomiting was found.

CONCLUSIONSThe addition of chewing gum, a well tolerated intervention, to standard treatment may facilitate intestinal recovery and contribute to a shorter hospital stay following colorectal surgery.

Chewing Gum ; Colonic Diseases ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Colorectal Surgery ; Defecation ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Postoperative Complications ; Postoperative Period ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Recovery of Function

PURPOSE: We aimed to examine the effect of gum chewing after laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of patients who underwent laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery in Incheon St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea School of Medicine. We divided the patients into 2 groups: group A consisted of 67 patients who did not chew gum; group B consisted of 65 patients who chewed gum. We analyzed the short-term clinical outcomes between the two groups to evaluate the effect of gum chewing. RESULTS: The first passage of gas was slightly earlier in group B, but the difference was not significant. However, the length of hospital stay was 6.7 days in group B, which was significantly shorter than that in group A (7.3 days, P = 0.018). CONCLUSION: This study showed that length of postoperative hospital stay was shorter in the gum-chewing group. In future studies, we expect to elucidate the effect of gum chewing on the postoperative recovery more clearly.
Chewing Gum ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Gingiva* ; Humans ; Incheon ; Korea ; Laparoscopy ; Length of Stay ; Mastication* ; Medical Records

Daily use of probiotic chewing gum might have a beneficial effect on oral health, and it is important that the viability of the probiotics be maintained in this food product. In this study, we examined the stability of probiotic chewing gum containing Weissella cibaria. We evaluated the effects of various factors, including temperature and additives, on the survival of freeze-dried probiotic W. cibaria powder. No changes in viability were detected during storage at 4degrees C for 5 months, whereas the viability of bacteria stored at 20degrees C decreased. The stability of probiotic chewing gum decreased steadily during storage at 20degrees C for 4 weeks. The viability of the freeze-dried W. cibaria mixed with various additives, such as xylitol, sorbitol, menthol, sugar ester, magnesium stearate, and vitamin C, was determined over a 4-week storage period at 20degrees C. Most of the freeze-dried bacteria except for those mixed with menthol and vitamin C were generally stable during a 3-week storage period. Overall, our study showed that W. cibaria was more stable at 4degrees C than that at 20degrees C. In addition, menthol and vitamin C had a detrimental effect on the storage stability of W. cibaria. This is the first study to examine the effects of various chewing gum additives on the stability of W. cibaria. Further studies will be needed to improve the stability of probiotic bacteria for developing a novel probiotic W. cibaria gum.
Ascorbic Acid ; Bacteria ; Chewing Gum ; Gingiva ; Magnesium ; Menthol ; Oral Health ; Probiotics ; Sorbitol ; Stearic Acids ; Weissella ; Xylitol

BACKGROUND/AIMS: There are few reports on the correlation between chewing gum and the gastrointestinal functions. But previous report showed use of chewing gum to be an effective method for controlling gastrointestinal symptoms. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between chewing gum and gastric emptying using the continuous real time 13C breath test (BreathID system). METHODS: Ten healthy male volunteers participated in this randomized, 2-way crossover study. The subjects fasted overnight and were randomly assigned to chewing gum (Xylish, 2-3/1 tablet) for an hour following intake of a test meal (200 kcal/200 mL) or intake of the test meal alone. Gastric emptying was monitored for 4 hours after administration of the test meal by the 13C-acetic acid breath test performed continually using the BreathID system. RESULTS: No significant differences in the calculated parameters, namely, T1/2 (median, 111.82 vs 109.26 minutes; P = 0.575), Tlag (median, 53.28 vs 56.53 minutes; P = 0.333), gastric emptying coefficient (median, 3.58 vs 3.65; P = 0.285), regression-estimated constant beta (median, 1.85 vs 1.80; P = 0.575) and regression-estimated constant kappa (median, 0.61 vs 0.62; P = 0.959) were observed between the test meal alone group and the test meal and chewing gum group. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that chewing gum had no effect on the rate of gastric emptying. Therefore, since chewing gum did not enhance the speed of gastric emptying, it may ameliorate gastrointestinal symptoms through other mechanisms, such as saliva and autonomic nervous system.
Autonomic Nervous System ; Breath Tests ; Chewing Gum ; Cross-Over Studies ; Gastric Emptying ; Humans ; Male ; Mastication ; Meals ; Saliva

OBJECTIVETo establish an high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-based method for analysis of the pharmacokinetics and relative bioavailability of dextromethorphan chewing gum tablets in rabbits.

METHODSThe pharmacokinetic parameters and the relative bioavailability of dextromethorphan chewing gum preparation in rabbits were compared with those of the commercially available chewing dextromethorphan tablets using 3P97 software.

RESULTSPharmacokinetic analysis of the new dextromethorphan chewing gum tablets showed a AUC of 488.76 ∓ 175.00 ng.ml(-1).h, C(max) of 95.45 ∓ 17.53 ng/ml, and t(max) of 1.83 ∓ 0.57 h as compared with the corresponding parameters of 370.13 ∓ 90.56 ng.ml(-1).h, 174.00 ∓ 47.88 ng.ml, and 1.04 ∓ 0.14 h for the commercially available chewing tablets. The relative bioavailability of the new chewing gum medicine system was (140.73 ∓ 65.91)%.

CONCLUSIONThe new dextromethorphan chewing gum preparation shows an increased AUC((0→)), decreased C(max), and prolonged t(max) in comparison with the commercially available chewing tablets, with also a greatly enhanced relative bioavailability.

Animals ; Biological Availability ; Chewing Gum ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Dextromethorphan ; administration & dosage ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Rabbits

OBJECTIVETo estimate the clinical effect of the maltitol chewing gums in plaque control.

METHODSThirty 13-15 years old susceptible adolescent were divided into three groups randomly, group A (maltitol chewing gums), group B (xylitol chewing gums) and group C (gum base chewing gums). Subjects chewed gums 5 times each day, 10 min each time. At baseline and at 4-week, subjects were evaluated for supragingival plaque. SPSS 17.0 software package was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTSFour weeks later, plaque index of the three groups continuously step down. Significant difference was observed between baseline and 4-week (P = 0.000, 0.000, 0.006). Four weeks later, there was statistically significant difference in clearance rate of plaque among the three groups (P = 0.015). There was still no statistically significant difference between group A and group B (P = 0.687), but they were both different from C group(P = 0.019, 0.007).

CONCLUSIONMaltitol chewing gum can lead to similar effect on reduction of plaque as xylitol chewing gum.

Adolescent ; Chewing Gum ; Dental Plaque ; Dental Plaque Index ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Maltose ; analogs & derivatives ; Sugar Alcohols ; Xylitol