Dental health and low-calorie sweeteners

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• How do low-calorie sweeteners help to prevent dental caries (tooth decay)?
• Dental caries is the eating away (demineralisation) of tooth enamel by acid in the mouth. Acid is produced by oral bacteria that ferment carbohydrate foods (sugars and starches). If people practice good dental health (maintaining oral hygiene, eating a healthy diet), saliva neutralises the acid and repairs the tooth's enamel. Tooth decay only occurs if the repair process doesn't keep up with the demineralisation process.
  
  Scientific studies suggest that fluoride is the most important aid to prevent dental caries. It increases the resistance of tooth enamel to decay and helps speed up repair. The addition of fluoride to community water supplies and fluoride-containing mouthwashes has greatly reduced the incidence of tooth decay in industrialised countries.
  
  Low-calorie sweeteners help prevent dental caries because they are not fermentable by oral bacteria. So, they produce no acid and cannot promote dental decay.
• What effect do low-calorie sweeteners have on dental health?
• Because low-calorie sweeteners cannot be fermented by oral bacteria and do not produce acids that erode tooth enamel, they cannot cause dental decay. In addition, laboratory research on animals has shown that some low-calorie sweeteners directly inhibit dental decay by interfering with the metabolism of carbohydrate by oral bacteria; they may limit the growth of decay-causing oral bacteria or reduce the amount of acid that the bacteria produce. So, foods and beverages containing these low-calorie sweeteners support dental health.
• Is it good to choose toothpaste, mouthwashes and chewable fluoride tablets or breath-fresheners that contain low-calorie sweeteners?
• By improving palatability, low-calorie sweeteners encourage the use of toothpastes, mouthwashes and fluoride supplements that aid dental health. And they don't cause decay.