I am a frequent enjoyer and, therefore, shopper of gum. While I have my go-to of Orbit spearmint, I will always browse what is on sale at the moment. The other day, as I was replenishing my stash, I noticed that my flavor of spearmint was on sale – however, it was not in its classic green packaging, but rather a sleek silver. The difference? The mysterious sale spearmint claimed to whiten teeth in addition to freshening breath.
We’ve all heard about whitening toothpaste. While it seems like a great idea, and a cheap fix to a prolonged problem – stained teeth – when it comes down to the actually efficacy, the product falls short. But what about tooth whitening gum? If toothpaste can’t get the job done, and you are brushing twice a day for two minutes – then it doesn’t seem to make sense how chewing gum would surpass this treatment in efficacy. Yet, the Orbit website claims their product whitens teeth, as supported by a study that found: “Chewing 1 piece for 12 minutes 5x/day helped reduce staining in a 12-week clinical trial.” Conveniently enough for the gum company, this study was not linked anywhere on their website. I had to do some arduous internet digging to find the original study. Unfortunately, this original study may belong to the void, as I was not able to find it. Strange considering the fact that its alleged results are published as the only supporting evidence for Orbit’s claim.
All hope was not lost, I did find a similar study published in 2014 titled, Crossover clinical investigation of a whitening chewing gum for inhibiting dental stain formation in conjunction with tooth brushing. In this study, researchers evaluated the effectiveness of a “marketed whitening chewing gum compared to a no-gum control” in preventing extrinsic tooth stains, tooth discoloration on the tooth’s outer layer. Extrinsic stains are typically caused by habits related to smoking and consuming dark colored foods and beverages. Those recruited for the study were adults who engaged in stain-forming activity – smoking, drinking coffee/tea. Once recruited, the subjects were asked either chewed the test gum, surprise, Orbit White 4x/day at 15 minutes/chew or chew no gum. (This was done in addition to twice daily brushing).
The study was almost entirely unsupervised, meaning that subjects carried out the protocol in the absence of the researchers, introducing many avenues for error. This is important because participants in the experimental group were expected to chew the gum soon after engaging in the tooth staining activity. However, because they were unsupervised, this timing likely varied among participants, the amount of time the participants spent brushing their teeth was also not watched, etc. As for the results of this peculiar study, the authors claim that after the 12-week clinical trial, there was a 25% reducing in new stain formation among subjects who were in the chewing gum group, rather than the control group.
While this study seems nightmarish in terms of its methodology and study design, the real kicker is that two of the authors are affiliated with the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in Chicago, IL, USA. This is the parent company of Orbit Gum. Talk about a conflict of interest.
These results echo a similar study carried out by these two very authors associated with the Wrigley Company, where they, again, conveniently find that chewing sugar-free gum along with brushing teeth daily can reduce stain formation in as little as two-weeks. Again, the fact that the study was sponsored by the very gum company that would benefit from these results, the methodology is not robust enough to be convincing. The proof is not in the pudding.
So, where does this leave us? Just because a company says that the benefits of their product are backed by scientific evidence, doesn’t make it true. Especially considering that Orbit did not have the original study on their website highlights the misleading nature of these claims and how it is important to confirm the sources supporting these claims.
As for the science behind teeth whitening gum, whitening products typically require abrasive properties that chewing gum simply does not contain. These gums may help with surface stains, but even that is a stretch – as the studies have shown. If you are really looking for a whiter smile, whitening gum is not the way to go. Leave the gum to give your breath a temporary minty flair. It’s not worth the extra price, unless it’s on sale, in which case, you’ll find it in my shopping cart.
Eva Kellner is a recent graduate from the Faculty of Arts and Science, with a major in Environment. Her research interests include urban green spaces, urban agriculture, and outdoor community spaces - all as promoters of climate resilience among city-dwellers.
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