Spry® Products With Xylitol: Creating a Healthy Oral Microbiome
For more than 20 years, Xlear® founder Nathan Jones has made it his goal to help clinicians and their patients improve oral hygiene routines with xylitol. "Brushing, flossing, and fluoride have only brought us part of the way in our oral care journey. Dentistry needs to adjust its strategy if we want to finish eradicating tooth decay. Utilizing products like Spry® with xylitol will help us reach our goal," he explains.
Xlear provides the industry with the Spry® Dental Defense System line of products incorporating xylitol. Xylitol helps reduce cavity-causing bacteria, and, the company says, researchers have found that xylitol products support fluoride's remineralization and strengthening efforts.
"Dental hygiene habits haven't changed much in 50 years. Brushing and flossing removes plaque, and fluoride helps harden teeth, but xylitol addresses infection," Jones says. In other words, rather than just play defense, patients can go on the offense by using xylitol, which attacks bacteria.
Spry products include oral rinse and mouthwash, toothpaste, gums and mints, as well as similar products aimed at the pediatric dental industry. Two years ago, Xlear introduced EnamelMax™, a blend of toothpaste ingredients designed to remineralize and strengthen tooth enamel and reduce sensitivity.
"Spry toothpaste uses xylitol rather than sorbitol to sweeten the product," Jones says. "Sorbitol feeds cariogenic bacteria; xylitol does not. Also, sodium trimetaphosphate, included in our toothpaste, has been shown to increase enamel hardness deeper into the enamel and 35% stronger than fluoride."
Used together, the assorted Spry oral hygiene products, which also include moisturizing mouth spray, "assist in changing the oral microbiome to nonacidogenic bacteria, which do not cause tooth decay," Jones says. "Xylitol works best by using it four to five times a day, which is very easily done with Spry toothpaste, mouthwash, chewing gum, and mints."
Spry products allow patients to be "proactive in their oral health plan," Jones asserts. He explains it this way: "If a castle on top of a hill comes under attack, utilizing fluoride would be like sending out masons to repair the wall each time there is an assault from the enemy. You can spend a lot of time rebuilding the wall after every attack. But using xylitol is like sending out a first line of defense to stop or get rid of the invading forces. So, why not use both resources? Strong enamel and creating a healthy oral microbiome are both key to having and maintaining good oral health."
For hygienists and dentists who would like to learn more about xylitol, Xlear offers free webinars that include CE credit and explain how to implement xylitol in a practice's oral hygiene program. "You can also learn how to educate your patients about incorporating xylitol into their oral hygiene routine," Jones adds. Also, numerous research studies explaining the benefits of xylitol are available at the company's website, xlear.com.
Nathan Jones
President and Chief
Executive Officer, Xlear, Inc., American Fork, Utah
Xlear, Inc.
801-492-2100
xlear.com
