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Research suggests chewing more sugar-free gum could save the NHS over £50m a year

3 mins read Oral health and mouth cancer Patient education
A new report commissioned by the Wrigley Oral Healthcare Programme has found that rolling out three preventative oral health interventions could reduce unnecessary trips to the dentist, saving individuals and the NHS millions of pounds, while freeing up capacity to deliver up to 8.3m more check-ups.

The report, Economic Value of Good Oral Health, was undertaken by Frontier Economics and has been launched by the Wrigley to mark the Oral Health Foundation’s National Smile Month.

It shows that if most people chewed sugar-free chewing gum three times a day, there could be an estimated 109,430 fewer tooth extractions carried out on the NHS every year. Additionally, there would be up to 182,383 fewer fillings and 36,477 fewer root canals. The associated savings to NHS dental services could reach over £7.9m – which, if reinvested, could fund an additional 1.29m check-ups every year.

Chewing sugar-free gum was one of three potential preventative interventions measured by Frontier Economics.

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