The effect of sucrose and hexitol--containing chewing gums on plaque acidogenesis in vivo.

Comparative quantitation of plaque organic acids formed in vivo in the course of chewing sucrose and sorbitol-mannitol containing gums disclosed that the hexitol gum did not generate any additional lactic, formic, butyric, propionic, acetic or pyruvic acid beyond baseline (0 time) values. In contrast, sucrose-containing gum produced significant increases in lactic and butyric acids. Quantitatively, acetic acid was the major acid in all plaque samples; the values were comparable for both gums at all times, suggesting it was mainly generated from endogenous sources.