Chewing gum could save the NHS £8.2m a year

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.”