Effect of maltitol-containing chewing gum use on the composition of dental plaque microbiota in subjects with active dental caries.

Sugar alcohols such as xylitol are incorporated in a number of oral hygiene products for their anti-cariogenic properties while chewing gum is known to be beneficial to oral hygiene. The aim of this study was to determine the composition of the dental plaque microbiota in patients with active caries before and after using a chewing gum supplemented with maltitol. : Forty subjects with active caries were randomly allocated to chew maltitol gum or gum base for two weeks. A healthy control group used gum base for two weeks. Plaque samples were collected before and after treatment and the microbiota analysed by pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes. : A total of 773,547 sequences were obtained from 117 samples. There was no difference in structure of the bacterial communities between groups (AMOVA). There was a significant difference in community membership between groups, (AMOVA, p=0.009). There was a significant difference between the control group after treatment and the maltitol patient group after treatment (p<0.001). HOT-176 and HOT-169 were significantly reduced following use of maltitol chewing gum in patients. : This study has shown that chewing gum containing maltitol had minor effects on the composition of the plaque microbiome.