Occasionally a small percentage of dental implant patients develop inflammation that could delay healing after dental implants. Bacteria can develop which causes this inflammation. In the future, possibly the next few years, patients can benefit from an affordable and easy method of testing for this bacteria – a new chewing gum based diagnostic test.

A pharmaceutical research team at the JMU Würzburg in Germany has developed a special chewing gum for diagnosing mouth bacteria. When a patient chews the gum, and there is inflammation present in the mouth, a bittering agent is released. Patients can then follow up with their doctor who can confirm the diagnosis and treat the inflammation.

This new chewing gum detection method has potential for preventing serious complications, such as bone loss. The research team plans to set up a company, and is predicting that it will take two to three years until the gum is commercially available.

Skip to content