Xlear Inc. centers on proactive health—staying healthy through transformational hygiene. Xlear and Spry xylitol-based products support that goal.
Spry® Dental Defense products help you achieve a healthier smile for your whole family. They are Natural, Effective, and Dentist Recommended.
Evidence is mounting of a strong link between oral health and general wellness. The most well-known is gum disease which is linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, pregnancy complications, and even Alzheimer’s. But these aren’t the only health problems that can be affected by someone’s dental hygiene. Studies show that poor oral health may also contribute to oral cancer, sleep apnea, and migraines. These correlations show the importance oral health has on the entire body.
Let’s take control of our oral health with the Spry Dental Defense System.
We’ve highlighted just a few of the hundreds of studies proving the effectiveness of xylitol in oral care.
Sorbitol’s Interaction with Cavity-Causing Bacteria
Most dental care companies make toothpaste and oral care products using sorbitol. However, studies show that sorbitol feeds the bacteria that cause cavities. Researchers have found that Strep. mutans metabolizes, lives off of, and thrives on sorbitol. Why would mainstream dental care companies sell products that feed the bacteria we are trying to get rid of?
Spry products are all sorbitol-free. We don’t want to feed the bacteria.
Brown, A. T., & Wittenberger, C. L. (1973). Mannitol and sorbitol catabolism in Streptococcus mutans. Archives of Oral Biology, 18(1), 117-IN19.
Turku Sugar Studies
“The purpose was to study differences in the caries increment rate as influenced by various sugars…The results showed a massive reduction of the caries increment in relation to xylitol consumption.”
Scheinin, A., Mäkinen, K. K., & Ylitalo, K. (1976). Turku sugar studies. V. Final report on the effect of sucrose, fructose and xylitol diets on the caries incidence in man. Acta Odontologica Scandinavica, 34(4), 179–216.
Xylitol Chewing Gums and Caries Rates
“Dental caries is a pandemic infectious disease which can affect the quality of life and consumes considerable health care resources. The chewing of xylitol, sorbitol, and even sugar gum has been suggested to reduce caries rates…The four xylitol gums were most effective in reducing caries rates…The results suggest that systematic usage of polyol-based chewing gums reduces caries rates in young subjects, with xylitol gums being more effective than sorbitol gums.”
Mäkinen, K. K., Bennett, C. A., Hujoel, P. P., Isokangas, P. J., Isotupa, K. P., Pape, H. R., & Mäkinen, P. L. (1995). Xylitol chewing gums and caries rates: a 40-month cohort study. Journal of Dental Research, 74(12), 1904–1913.
Influence of Maternal Xylitol Consumption
In a study looking into the impact of mothers using xylitol, researchers found, “habitual xylitol consumption by mothers was associated with a statistically significant reduction of the probability of mother-child transmission of MS [the cavity-causing bacteria in the mouth] assessed at two years of age. The effect was superior to that obtained with either chlorhexidine or fluoride varnish treatments performed as single applications at six-month intervals.”
Söderling, E., Isokangas, P., Pienihäkkinen, K., & Tenovuo, J. (2000). Influence of maternal xylitol consumption on acquisition of mutans streptococci by infants. Journal of Dental Research, 79(3), 882–887.
Non-Cariogenic Sweeteners and Dental Caries
“The purpose of this report is to review the current published evidence regarding the relationship between sugar substitutes and dental caries…These studies demonstrated a consistent decrease in dental caries, ranging from 30 to 60 percent, among subjects using sugar substitutes as compared to subjects in a control group. These caries rate reductions were observed in subjects using xylitol or sorbitol as the sugar substitute in chewing gum or toothpaste. The highest caries reductions were observed in subjects using xylitol. These findings suggest that the replacement of sucrose with sorbitol and xylitol may significantly decrease the incidence of dental caries.”
Hayes, C. (2001). The Effect of Non-Cariogenic Sweeteners on the Prevention of Dental Caries: A Review of the Evidence. Journal of Dental Education, 65(10), 1106–1109.
Xylitol and the Break Down Oral Biofilm
Biofilm is a bacterial colony where bacteria can thrive and flourish. Researchers wanted to see how to break down these harmful biofilms. In this study they found, “Xylitol has a clear inhibitory effect on the formation of the experimental biofilms. This study shows that xylitol is not only efficient in inhibiting the acid production of cariogenic bacteria, but also in preventing the formation of a multispecies biofilm; it confirms the relevance of the use of this polyol for the prevention of oral diseases caused by dental plaque.”
Badet, C., Furiga, A., & Thébaud, N. (2008). Effect of xylitol on an in vitro model of oral biofilm. Oral Health & Preventive Dentistry, 6(4), 337–341.
Xylitol and Remineralization of Teeth: A Literature Review
K.K. Makinen, one the of pioneers of xylitol research, wanted to see how xylitol and other polyols affect oral health by remineralizing teeth. It is well-known that shallow decay can heal. Dental caries, then, is reversible is it is caught early enough and properly treated. Makinen concludes, “The scientific and clinical information available today indicates that habitual use of xylitol, a sugar alcohol of the pentitol type, can be associated with significant reduction in the incidence of dental caries and with remineralization of both enamel and dentin caries lesions.”
Mäkinen, K. K. (2010). Sugar alcohols, caries incidence, and remineralization of caries lesions: a literature review. International Journal of Dentistry, 2010, 981072.
Xylitol and Oral Streptococci Adherence
Research has shown that “Xylitol consumption decreases counts of mutans streptococci.” However, the method of action isn’t understood as well. Researchers wanted to better understand the mechanism behind xylitol’s ability. They found, “Both xylitol and erythritol can decrease polysaccharide-mediated cell adherence contributing to plaque accumulation through a mechanism not dependent on growth inhibition.”
Söderling, E. M., & Hietala-Lenkkeri, A.-M. (2010). Xylitol and erythritol decrease adherence of polysaccharide-producing oral streptococci. Current Microbiology, 60(1), 25–29.
Xylitol’s Effect on Good Oral Bacteria
Researchers wanted to better understand xylitol’s effect on good oral bacteria, whether it affects these bacteria like it does S. mutans. They found, “Based on the findings of this study, xylitol consumption reduced S. mutans and S. sobrinus counts in saliva but appeared not to effect numbers of [the good bacteria] S. sanguinis and S. mitis in saliva. So, habitual consumption of xylitol reduces cariogenic streptococci levels without any effect on beneficial streptococci for the oral cavity.”
Bahador, A., Lesan, S., & Kashi, N. (2012). Effect of xylitol on cariogenic and beneficial oral streptococci: a randomized, double-blind crossover trial. Iranian Journal of Microbiology, 4(2), 75–81.
High-dose Xylitol in High-risk Caries Subjects
“The hypothesis was that the daily use of a high dose of a xylitol chewing gum for 6 months would reduce the increment of decayed permanent first molar surfaces in high-risk schoolchildren after 2 years…The use of a chewing gum containing a high dose of xylitol for a period of 6 months has been shown to produce a long-term effect on caries development in high caries-risk children.”
Campus, G., Cagetti, M. G., Sale, S., Petruzzi, M., Solinas, G., Strohmenger, L., & Lingström, P. (2013). Six months of high-dose xylitol in high-risk caries subjects–a 2-year randomised, clinical trial. Clinical Oral Investigations, 17(3), 785–791.
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.”
Chung, J., Na, H. S., Kim, S. M., Kim, S., & Choi, Y. H. (2013). Effect of Xylitol on various Oral bacteria. International Journal of Oral Biology, 38(4), 175–180.
Xylitol and Dental Caries: A Systemic Review
Researchers analyzed 16 studies looking at xylitol’s effect on dental caries, or cavities. In their review, the researchers found that, “Xylitol was found to be an effective strategy as self-applied caries preventive agent.” Systemic reviews and meta-analyses have more weight in research and heavily supports the conclusions they found.
Janakiram, C., Deepan Kumar, C. V., & Joseph, J. (2017). Xylitol in preventing dental caries: A systematic review and meta-analyses. Journal of Natural Science, Biology, and Medicine, 8(1), 16–21.
Xylitol and Erythritol Working Together to Improve Oral Health
Researchers wanted to see how xylitol and erythritol affected oral health both individually and synergistically. They concluded, “Both erythritol and xylitol as well as their combinations inhibit the growth of clinical strains of mutans streptococci and S. wiggsiae, newly recognized cariogenic bacterium. Biofilm formation of mutans streptococci is also strongly inhibited.”
Kõljalg, S., Smidt, I., Chakrabarti, A., Bosscher, D., & Mändar, R. (2020). Exploration of singular and synergistic effect of xylitol and erythritol on causative agents of dental caries. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 6297.
Xylitol and Erythritol Inhibition of Bacterial Growth and Biofilm Production
Researchers wanted to look how the polyols xylitol and erythritol work together to inhibit the growth of oral bacteria S. Mutans and Sobrinus. They concluded, “Our results demonstrate significant polyol influence on the oral Streptococcal strains tested in our laboratory.”
Cannon, M. L., Merchant, M., Kabat, W., Catherine, L., White, K., Unruh, B., & Ramones, A. (2020). In vitro studies of xylitol and erythritol inhibition of streptococcus mutans and streptococcus sobrinus growth and biofilm production. The Journal of Clinical Pediatric Dentistry, 44(5), 307–314.
Using Xylitol and Fluoride Together for Stronger, Healthier Teeth
Xylitol is known to help reduce cavity-causing bacteria. Additionally, researchers have found that xylitol products support fluoride’s remineralization and strengthening efforts. In one study, they even found that xylitol helps fluoride penetrate deeper into the enamel. They found that a combination of trimetaphosphate, xylitol, and erythritol affected the uptake of fluoride so much that it strengthened enamel 33% more than fluoride alone.
Marcato, R. A., Garbelini, C. C. D., Danelon, M., Pessan, J. P., Emerenciano, N. G., Ishikawa, A. de S., Cannon, M. L., & Delbem, A. C. B. (2021). In situ evaluation of 200 ppm fluoride toothpaste content trimetaphosphate, xylitol and erythritol on enamel demineralization and dental biofilm. Journal of Dentistry, 111, 103724.
Xylitol Reduces Preterm Births
In a study published in January of 2022, researchers wanted to see if using xylitol could reduce preterm birth. They conducted the study with 10,069 women in Malawi, the country with the highest rate of preterm births. Results showed a 24% decrease in preterm births of those women who chewed xylitol gum compared to those who did not.
Aagaard, K. M., Valentine, G. C., Antony, K. M., Sangi-Haghpeykar, H., Chirwa, R., Dumba, M., Petro, S., Nanthuru, D., Shope, C., Mlotha-Namarika, J., Wilkinson, J. P., Aagaard, J., Aagaard, E. J., Seferovic, M. D., & Levison, J. (2022). LB 1: PPaX: Cluster randomized trial of xylitol chewing gum on prevention of preterm birth in Malawi. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 226(1), S777.
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Recently Xlear has removed a number of scientific studies and posted disclaimers on our website and social media. We have done this at the insistence of the Federal Trade Commission. We believe the FTC has no authority to stop us from giving you accurate scientific information. Moreover, the FTC lacks the scientific/medical expertise to evaluate such data. However, we are trying to work with the FTC to fix this.
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