RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the clinical effect of the maltitol chewing gums in plaque control. METHODS: Thirty 13-15 years old susceptible adolescent were divided into three groups randomly, group A (maltitol chewing gums), group B (xylitol chewing gums) and group C (gum base chewing gums). Subjects chewed gums 5 times each day, 10 min each time. At baseline and at 4-week, subjects were evaluated for supragingival plaque. SPSS 17.0 software package was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Four weeks later, plaque index of the three groups continuously step down. Significant difference was observed between baseline and 4-week (P = 0.000, 0.000, 0.006). Four weeks later, there was statistically significant difference in clearance rate of plaque among the three groups (P = 0.015). There was still no statistically significant difference between group A and group B (P = 0.687), but they were both different from C group(P = 0.019, 0.007). CONCLUSION: Maltitol chewing gum can lead to similar effect on reduction of plaque as xylitol chewing gum.
