MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Philip Riley Cochrane Oral Health Group, School of Dentistry The University of Manchester Manchester, UK Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: As tooth decay is still so prevalent worldwide, despite being entirely preventable, it is worth assessing the evidence for other adjunctive ways for the public to help prevent the disease. Manufacturers of xylitol products commonly make the claim that this natural sweetener prevents tooth decay, and we felt that the public deserved to know if the best quality evidence backs up such claims. We found that there was a lack of evidence from randomised controlled trials (the best type of study design for testing the effects of interventions) to prove that xylitol products can prevent tooth decay. We found some low quality evidence suggesting that xylitol added to fluoride toothpaste may reduce tooth decay in children’s permanent teeth by 13% over a 3 year period when compared to fluoride toothpaste without xylitol. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution and may or may not be generalizable to other populations. There was insufficient evidence to conclude that xylitol in chewing gums, lozenges, candies/sweets, syrups and wipes can prevent tooth decay in children or adults (more…)