Photo by tambako the jaguar.

Your dentist isn’t crazy. Sweets can prevent cavities and make your teeth stronger. There are numerous news reports this week on a sweet substance called Xylitol and its benefits. Xylitol is known as a sugar alcohol and is found within nature in berries, corn husks, birch, and many other places.

While we associate sugars or carbohydrates with enamel deterioration, the deterioration actually occurs when the bacteria in our mouths ferment carbohydrates. The bacterial fermentation process creates acidic byproducts which slowly, but consistently break down the enamel and causes cavities.

In the 1970s, it was discovered by scientists in Finland that Xylitol could not be fermented by our mouth’s bacteria. Beyond being un-useable by mouth bacteria, the Finnish scientist discovered that Xylitol could prevent dental cavities. Xylitol even strengthens tooth enamel, while other sugar alcohols, like sorbitol, do not. Finland is so impressed with the benefits of Xylitol, that the country’s children chew Xylitol gum at school after meals as a way to prevent cavities.

Xylitol is even found to be beneficial to the children of mother’s who chewed Xylitol during their pregnancy, reducing the number of cavity causing bacteria, Streptococcus mutans, passed from mother to child while increasing less destructive bacteria or pro-biotics.

So what can we learn from the use of xylitol regarding dental health?

Our dentists are correct in telling us that sweets rot our teeth. If we brush our teeth before meals and eliminate carbohydrates from our diet, then we can have a much better chance of preventing cavities. Brushing before meals removes much of the bacteria from tooth enamel surfaces and so reduces the fermentation and cavity-forming process that starts within ten minutes after putting that first bite of food into your mouth. The average meal time added to the time of when the post-meal teeth brushing occurs is usually much more than ten minutes. These minutes add up to a lot of time for dental cavity formation.

Of course it would be nearly impossible to try to eliminate carbohydrates completely from the diet. For optimal dental health, significantly reducing carbohydrates is much more doable. Brushing before meals cannot always be done given most modern peoples’ hectic days. Most people also want to brush after meals to freshen up their breath.

Xylitol is a good solution to maintaining healthy tooth enamel. It takes about 6-15 per day. Most xylitol based chewing gums contain about 1-2 grams of xylitol per piece. That’s a lot of pieces of gum, but if chewed after each meal, it should work out to 2-3 pieces of gum after each meal.

Finally, pro-biotics, is also a good method of reducing the dental cavity bacteria, Strep mutans, while increasing less harmful good bacteria. Eating meals with natural probiotics or rinsing one’s mouth with a probiotic powder after brushing reduces Strep mutans

Caution: Xylitol is toxic to dogs according to American Veterinary Medical Association

Dr. Gibran Ramos completed his six year training and internship in Naturopathic and Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine. Dr. Ramos helps patients transform their lives and optimize their well-being at a private practice in Portland, Oregon.