Kakodkar Pradnya, Mulay Soniya
Associate Professor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Dr. D.Y. Patil Dental College and Hospital, Pune, India.
Dent Res J (Isfahan). 2010 Summer;7(2):64-9.
Chewing-gum may serve as an effective oral hygiene device when brushing may not be possible. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of chewing sugar-free gum twice a day after meals in addition to tooth brushing on dental plaque and interdental debris.
Twenty four (12 males and 12 females aged 20-21 years) healthy third-year dental students participated in the study. It was a prospective single blind and non-randomized before and after study. The control group followed tooth brushing habit twice a day plus water rinsing after meals at noon and night for 10 days. The study group followed tooth brushing habit twice a day plus chewing one pellet of sugar-free gum after meals at noon and night for 30 minutes for 3 weeks. Personal hygiene performance index (PHP-M) was used to assess the dental plaque and self-designed interdental debris index for interdental debris. ANOVA, Tukey and 't' tests were used for data analysis. The level of significance was fixed at α = 0.05.
The baseline percentages of cumulative plaque and interdental debris were 63.12% and 76.44%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the plaque scores following either water rinsing (61.73%) or gum chewing (59.44%) after meals, but a statistically significant reduction of 14.18% in interdental debris was observed among those who chewed the gum (P < 0.05).
After meal, gum chewing in addition to daily tooth brushing reduced interdental debris, but had no effect on established buccal and lingual dental plaques.
当无法刷牙时，口香糖可作为一种有效的口腔卫生用品。本研究的目的是评估除刷牙外，每天饭后咀嚼两次无糖口香糖对牙菌斑和牙间隙碎屑的影响。
24名（12名男性和12名女性，年龄20 - 21岁）健康的牙科三年级学生参与了该研究。这是一项前瞻性单盲非随机的前后对照研究。对照组每天刷牙两次，中午和晚上饭后用水漱口，持续10天。研究组每天刷牙两次，中午和晚上饭后咀嚼一粒无糖口香糖30分钟，持续3周。使用个人卫生表现指数（PHP - M）评估牙菌斑，并使用自行设计的牙间隙碎屑指数评估牙间隙碎屑。采用方差分析、Tukey检验和t检验进行数据分析。显著性水平设定为α = 0.05。
累积牙菌斑和牙间隙碎屑的基线百分比分别为63.12%和76.44%。饭后用水漱口（61.73%）或咀嚼口香糖（59.44%）后的牙菌斑评分无显著差异，但咀嚼口香糖者的牙间隙碎屑在统计学上显著减少了14.18%（P < 0.05）。
饭后除每日刷牙外咀嚼口香糖可减少牙间隙碎屑，但对已形成的颊侧和舌侧牙菌斑没有影响。
