RT Journal Article
T1 Effect of chewing an apple on dental plaque removal and on salivary bacterial viability
A1 Rubido Montero, Susana
A1 García Caballero, Lucía
A1 Abeleira Pazos, María Teresa
A1 Limeres Posse, Jacobo
A1 García, Marta
A1 Diz Dios, Pedro
K1 Dental plaque
K1 Salivary bacterial viability
AB ObjectivesStudies on dental plaque removal by chewing an apple are scarce and dated, with conflictingfindings. This study aimed to determine whether chewing an apple produced mechanicalremoval of dental plaque or had any effect on salivary bacterial viability.MethodsThe study group consisted of 20 healthy adults with good oral health status who were randomly assigned to brush their teeth or eat an apple. After 2 weeks, the experiment wasrepeated with the order reversed. Plaque index (PI) and the bacterial viability (BV) in a sample of whole saliva (spit) were determined before brushing or apple eating (baseline, B),immediately afterward (A) and 24 hours afterward (24).ResultsAfter chewing an apple, PI-A was significantly higher than both PI-B (P < .001) and PI-24(P < .001). BV-A was significantly lower than BV-B (P < .001), with a return to baseline values at the BV-24 measurement.ConclusionsChewing an apple does not remove dental plaque, and may favor plaque regrowth duringthe first 24 hours, but it does produce an immediate reduction in salivary bacterial viabilitysimilar to that after tooth brushing
PB Plos
YR 2018
FD 2018
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/22213
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/22213
LA eng
NO Rubido S, García-Caballero L, Abeleira MT, Limeres J, García M, Diz P (2018) Effect of chewing an apple on dental plaque removal and on salivary bacterial viability. PLoS ONE 13(7): e0199812. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199812
DS Minerva
RD 27 abr 2026