Table 2.

Summary characteristics of included studies.

Study citation	Intervention	Participant characteristics	Age Range Mean and sd	Duration of follow up	Study design	Control group	Intervention arms	Outcome measures (count, decline or % change)
Mouton et al. [19]	xylitol- chewing gum and Sucrose gum	N = 96 Adults	Range: 19–25 years Mean and sd unavailable	4 days	RCT	No gum	xylitol- chewing gum and Sucrose gum 6 times daily	Plaque Index (count)
Kandelman and Gagnon [20]	Xylitol gum over 2 years	N = 274 children	Range: 8–9 years Mean (sd): Control group: 8.6 ( 0.7) XYL15 group: 8.8 (0.9) XYL65 group: 8.7 (0.8)	2 years	RCT	No gum	Gp1: 15% xylitol gum Gp2: 65% xylitol Three times / day	Plaque index (decline)
Simons et al. [21]	Xylitol gum ACHX: chlorhexidine acetate/xylitol gum	N = 111 Adults	Range: 63–99 years Mean and sd unavailable	12 months	RCT	No gum	Xylitol gum 2 times daily ACHX: chlorhexidine acetate/xylitol gum 2 times daily	Plaque index (decline)
Wang et al. [22]	Sugar free gum	N = 40 adults	Range: 20 to 39 years Mean 25.8 years sd unavailable	2 weeks	RCT	No gum	Sugar free gum	Plaque quantity (weight) (% change)
Haresaku et al. [23]	xylitol & malatol for 6 months	N = 127 adults	Range: 18–53 years Mean 28 years Sd unavailable	6 months	Other – controlled clinical trial?	No gum	xylitol & malatol	Plaque quantity (weight) (decline)
Al-Haboubi et al. [24]	Xylitol gum over 6 months	N = 186 adults	Range: over 60 years Mean (sd) 70.2 (7.2)	6 months	RCT	No gum	Xylitol gum over 6 months	Plaque index (decline)
Keukenmeester et al. [25]	xylitol group maltitol group	N = 223 Adults	Range: 18–30 years Mean: 21.9 years sd unavailable	21 days	RCT	No gum and no active ingredient gum	Xylitol gum 5 times daily for 21 days Malitol Gum 5 times daily for 21 days	Plaque index (decline)
Saheer et al. [26]	Sorbitol gum Xylitol gum	N = 48 young adults	Range: 14–15 years Mean and sd unavailable	14 days	RCT	No gum	Sorbitol gum 2 times daily for 14 days and Xylitol gum 2 times daily for 14 days	Plaque index (decline)