New health economic research published in the British Dental Journal demonstrates that if all 12 year olds across the UK were to chew one additional piece of sugar free gum per day the NHS could save up to £2.8m on dental treatments per year. This cost saving rises to a potential £3.3m if two pieces of sugar free gum were to be chewed per day by all 12 year olds and to £8.2m for three pieces. This research is the first of its kind in the UK and was conducted by the York Health Economics Consortium and Peninsula Dental School, Plymouth University, with support from The Wrigley Company Ltd.
Professor Liz Kay of Peninsula Dental School (Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry) and co-author of the study said:
“With the growing strain on the NHS, there is an increasing need to find innovative new ways of helping reduce the burden of oral disease. The findings of this study demonstrate a simple but effective way of helping improve their oral health. Crucially, whilst these figures are significant, they refer only to cost reductions for treating 12 year olds in the UK – if this model was to be applied to the whole population then there is a real potential to create substantial NHS savings. Such savings could then be used, for example, to fund other cost effective oral health interventions.”
Sugar free gum could be an easy and effective addition to families’ oral health routines. The British Dental Health Foundation recommends that, while brushing for two minutes, twice a day is still the best way to keep teeth clean and healthy, for children over the age of seven, chewing sugar free gum during the day can be effective in neutralising harmful plaque acids and reducing the risk of decay.
There is a strong evidence base that demonstrates that sugar free gum can help prevent tooth decay. Independent clinical research proves that chewing sugar free gum for 20 minutes after eating or drinking helps neutralise the plaque acid attacks that can cause tooth decay and contributes to removing food remains. Increased flow of saliva also promotes the remineralisation of tooth enamel, thus reducing one risk factor for developing tooth decay.
Mike Dodds, lead oral health scientist at Wrigley commented:
“The results of this study are hugely exciting and demonstrate the potential role that sugar free gum can play in preventing dental decay. Wrigley is committed to supporting the dental community in educating patients and helping improve their oral health through the proven scientific benefits of chewing sugar free gum.”
The burden of dental disease in the UK
Tooth decay is preventable but treating it is an increasing burden on the NHS and family finances. The latest government figures show that young people in the UK experience unacceptably high levels of tooth decay and that it can have a real impact on their self esteem as well as their health, with 35 per cent of 12 year olds reporting being embarrassed to smile or laugh due to the condition of their teeth.
Each week, more than 1m patients in the UK use NHS dental services – many of them seeking treatment for dental disease, the consequences of which costs the NHS a huge £3.4bn a year. A 2013 study showed that 34 per cent of 12 year olds surveyed in the UK had obvious decay in their permanent teeth, while other studies have demonstrated that poor oral health as a child or adolescent can lead to poor oral health as an adult, creating a potentially vast NHS cost throughout the patient’s lifetime, through the replacement of fillings and the implantation of crowns, bridges and prosthetics. A recent survey of hygienists and dentists found that they are most anxious about the state of their paediatric patients’ oral health, with hygienists noting that teens were the second group of concern, making these age groups key targets for interventions.
In the UK, official oral care guidance has rarely explicitly mentioned sugar free gum. However, the evidence described above suggests that the potential benefits of including sugar free gum in preventative oral health advice should be considered. With the NHS facing a huge funding gap, new solutions need to be considered to help tackle the preventable problem of tooth decay.