Gum
chewers rejoice: a new study published in the journal PLOS One has found that
chewing a piece of gum for ten minutes can remove 100 MILLION bacteria from
your mouth.
That’s
the equivalent of 10% of the bacteria typically found in your saliva – and it
puts chewing gum on a par with dental floss when it comes to improving oral
hygiene.
Researchers
at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands chewed for set periods of
time before studying their gum with an electron microscope.
Chewing
for was shown to provide great benefits – as long as the gum is sugar-free, of
course, and as long as the chewer spat the gum out after 10 minutes.
Chewing
the same piece of gum for longer than 10 minutes was found to undo the
benefits, as bacteria that had been gathered into the gum then got redeposited
back into the mouth.
Previous research has
found that gum chewing can also improve your mood, lessen your anxiety and
increase your alertness.
Follow Me On Twitter & Instagram: @effiongeton
No comments:
Post a Comment