Chew On This

According to an article in the April 2010 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine, when you need a quick fix for bad breath, there’s no need to spring for pricey breath-sweetening gum. In a head-to-head competition, an ordinary sugary brand reduced smelly sulfur-containing compounds just as well as gum containing xylitol and zinc (and marketed as a breath freshener), say Brazilian researchers. But the clear winner for your wallet is the non-specialty gum: it’s less than 10 cents per piece, compared with about 25 cents for the fancy kind. “All gums whether regular, sugar-free, or breath-freshening work by stimulating saliva production,” says Howard S. Glazer, D.D.S., past president of the Academy of General Dentistry.