Effect of Sugar-free Chewing Gum Containing Magnolia Bark Extract on Interdental Plaque pH in Healthy Adult Volunteers: A Preliminary RCT

Objectives: The effect of magnolia bark extract (MBE) on interdental plaque pH administered daily through sugar-free chewing gum was evaluated. The study was performed with healthy adult volunteers as a randomized double-blind intervention trial. the subjects were randomly divided into three groups (blue, yellow and green): one using chewing gum containing MBE and xylitol, a group using chewing gum with only xylitol and finally, a control group using sugar-free chewing gum without MBE and xylitol.Methods: 577 subjects, 30-55 years, accepted to participate. Each subject was instructed to chew 1 or 2 pellets for 5 min 3 times a day for 12 months; 221 subjects completed the six-month period; data on plaque pH were calculated on 75 subjects in the magnolia group, 73 in the xylitol group and 73 in the control group. Plaque pH was assessed in triplicate using the strip method after a mouth rinse with 10% sucrose at baseline (t0) and after 6 months (t1) of chewing gum use. Data were analysed for statistically significant differences using ANOVA repeated measures.Results: There is a statically significant difference between the plaque pH measurements at the baseline and the pH measurements rerun after 6 months. Compared with the baseline, chewing either xylitol gum or MBE gum or sugar-free gum significantly increased the interproximal plaque pH in the magnolia (F=2.95 p<0.01) and xylitol group (F= 5.19, p<0.01) and in the control group (F=2.40 p=0.02).Conclusions: Currently, six-month use of magnolia or xylitol-based chewing-gum showed beneficial effects on oral health, reducing plaque acidogenicity.