A dentist has shared how you can enjoy the addictive habit of chewing gum without damaging your teeth.
Texas-based dentist Dr. Ellie Phillis explained what to avoid to enjoy gum without guilt in a recent TikTok video.
Ellie, who has been in her field for forty years, advises people to avoid sorbitol and instead opt for 100 percent xylitol gum.
She explained in her insightful segment, titled “How to Enjoy Chewing Gum Healthily,” that xylitol gum had benefits such as its hygroscopic property, which caused your mouth to produce more saliva, thereby “making you teeth mineralized’ and ‘helped your teeth heal gums.’
Texas-based dentist Dr. Ellie Phillis has shared how you can enjoy the addictive habit of chewing gum without damaging your teeth
Mineralization is the process of repairing tooth enamel. Using fluoride mouthwash and toothpaste can help strengthen your enamel.
The dentist started her clip with the words: “If you like to chew gum, here’s the healthiest way to do it.”
Then she introduced herself with a smile, “Hi, I’m Dr. Ellie, and I’m here to help you avoid unnecessary dental treatments.”
She immediately took her advice.
“It’s best to look for sugar-free gum, but be careful: don’t look for gum sweetened with sorbitol,” Ellie said.
‘Sorbitol may actually feed the bacteria that appear to be responsible for the symptoms of acid reflux.
“So if you get acid reflux and you’re chewing a lot of sorbitol gum, I would switch immediately and what I would recommend everyone use is 100 percent xylitol gum and there are a lot of different brands out there and they’re all pretty good.”
Ellie then gave her personal take on the components of the gum, saying: ‘I would prefer it without the glycerin in it if you’re looking for another ingredient to avoid, especially if you’re trying to mineralize your teeth.
She explained that xylitol gum has benefits such as its hygroscopic property, which helps your mouth produce saliva, which “mineralizes your teeth” and “helps the gums heal” (stock image)
‘It turns out that glycerin hinders the mineralization process, so if you don’t have bad teeth it’s probably not a problem, but look for 100 percent xylitol gum. That’s the first thing you need to do.’
She then answered a question she said was asked “all the time”: “If you have 100 percent xylitol gum, how long should you chew it?”
“To understand the answer you need to know that the way xylitol really helps you is that it stimulates.”
Ellie explained: ‘It has hygroscopic properties.
“That means it soaks saliva into your mouth, so when you chew this gum, the first thing that happens is you get a rush of saliva into your mouth.”
“And that happens in the first few minutes… the first two to five minutes.
‘You feel the saliva in your mouth and that’s wonderful.
“That saliva will mineralize your teeth…
help your gums heal. It’s fantastic.
‘The problem is if you keep chewing, chewing, chewing, for more than 15 minutes.
“You’re going to change the type of saliva in your mouth.”
Ellie then moved her hands in a circular motion around her jaw muscles and said, “As you chew, these muscles here on the side of your cheeks stimulate the parotid salivary gland.”
Ellie’s video has been viewed more than 13,000 times and her followers thanked her for her insights
“It’s the gland in here,” she said, pointing to her cheeks.
“And that’s a gland designed to produce digestive saliva with a very different composition.”
Ellie added that she wasn’t sure that hours of saliva in the digestive system was “that good for your stomach health.”
“So my recommendation is to buy xylitol gum, 100 percent xylitol,” she again advised confidently.
“Chew it and enjoy it for the first two to fifteen minutes and then dispose of it properly.”
Ellie’s video has been viewed more than 13,000 times and her followers thanked her for her insights.
One person wrote: ‘I used the spicy xylitol gum and noticed such a difference, my teeth are a lot whiter. Now that I know, I have to check for glycerin.
‘
“Thanks for the valuable information,” another added.
A third person agreed in writing: “Take the xylitol gum… Now I know how long to chew it, Ty (thanks).”
In addition to teaching you which gum to chew, Ellie’s TikTok account is full of helpful videos with information about tooth sensitivity, plaque buildup, and more
“Have you suggested oral probiotics,” one curious commenter asked, to which Ellie replied, “Only as a last resort – unless you give them a healthy mouth, adding oral bacteria won’t change the situation.”
Ellie isn’t the only dentist who strongly recommends the use of xylitol gum.
Dr. Khaled Kasem, chief orthodontist and co-founder of Impress in Barcelona, suggested xylitol because it is a natural sweetener.
He even went so far as to call it the “best.”
As a bonus, xylitol gum also prevents harmful bacteria from growing and causing cavities, according to the Journal of Natural Sciences.
In addition to teaching you which gum to chew, Ellie’s TikTok account is full of helpful videos with information about tooth sensitivity, plaque buildup, and more.