Effect of Xylitol on Various Oral bacteria

In a study done at Pusan University in Korea back in 2013, researchers investigated xylitol’s effect on a range of oral bacteria. Hundreds of studies have focused on the bacteria S. mutans but not much literature exists on other bacteria strains. Researchers found that, “Our results indicate that xylitol markedly reduced the growth of various oral bacteria.” Most notably, this study showed that for bacteria which cause periodontitis, xylitol had a marked growth inhibition. Though the mechanism for inhibiting this growth is unclear from this study, researchers concluded that, “The bacterial growth rate or bacterial genus seems to be of minor importance for the xylitol sensitivity.”