TABLE 3. Main characteristics of the 11 accepted trials.

Article/1st Author	Trial Nr	Study design	Dental chewing gum	Application Regime	Control	Caries/Dentition	Follow -up period	Result		Value as evidence
								Anti-cariogenic effect	Reported statistical significance
Creanor, et al.6 (1992)	1	ln-situ	Sorbitol (2.7 g stick)	5x per day, 20 min chewing after meals	Baseline before chewing	Artificial lesion	7 weeks	Enamel remineralisation	(p = 0.07)	Reasonable
Glass12 (1983)	2	ln-vivo	Sorbitol	Daily chewing gum distribution	No gum	Deciduous	2 yrs	Caries increment reduction	(p>0.05)	Good
Machiulskiene et al 20 (2001)	3	ln-vivo	Sorbitol	5x per day, 10 min chewing after meals	No gum	Permanent	3 yrs	DMFS increment reduction	(p<0.05)	Good
	4	ln-vivo	Xylitol		No gum	Permanent	3 yrs	DMFS increment reduction	(p<0.05)	Good
Manning, et al.26(1992)	5	ln-situ	Sorbitol (100%)	After meals for 20 min	Baseline before chewing	Artificial lesion	21 days	Enamel remineralisation	(p<0.05)	Good
	6	ln-situ	Sorbitol/Xylitol (25%/75%)		Baseline before chewing	Artificial lesion	21 days	Enamel remineralisation	(p<0.05)	Good
Möller and Poulsen28 (1973)	7	ln-vivo	Sorbitol (1-2 g)	3x per day, after meals	No gum	Permanent	2 yrs	Carious decay progression reduction	(p<0.05)	Good
Peng, et al.31 (2004)	8	ln-vivo	Sorbitol/Xylitol (55.5%/4.3%)	4x per day, after meals	No gum	Permanent	2 yrs	DMFS increment reduction	(p<0.05)	Good
Petersen, et al.32 (1999)	9	ln-vivo	Sorbitol/Xylitol (55.5%/4.3%)	3 and 5 × per day	No gum/oral health education	Permanent & deciduous	3 yrs	Occlusal DMFS increment reduction	(p<0.01)	Good
Scheinin, et al.34 (1975)	10	ln-vivo	Xylitol	3–7 × per day	Sucrose gum	Permanent	1yr	Caries incident reduction	(p<0.05)	Good
Szöke, et al.40 (2001)	11	ln-vivo	Sorbitol (65%)	After meals	No gum	Permanent	2 yrs	DMFS increment reduction	(p<0.05)	Strong