JPS5991847A - Chewing gum - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a chewing gum containing a specific agent for removing the plaque-forming component, and capable of effectively removing the insoluble glucan and saliva proteins, etc. playing an important roll in the formation of plaque. CONSTITUTION:The objective chewing gum can be prepared by melting a chewing gum base composed of a natural resin (e.g. chicle gum), a synthetic resin (e.g. polyvinyl acetate), etc., adding a sweetener such as sugar alcohol (e.g. xylitol), a coupling sugar, etc. and hydroxyapatite powder encapsulated in edible microcapsules as an agent for removing a plaque-forming components, and kneading the mixture.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a chewing gum containing hydroxyapatite.

As an important factor causing dental caries and periodontal disease,
These include the formation of plaque and the formation of an acquired coating on tooth enamel derived from salivary proteins that adsorbs plaque. This coating and plaque provide a suitable living environment for the activity of pathogenic oral bacteria. For example, S-mut
Ans and Actiom3'ces viscosus are involved in tooth enamel demineralization by decomposing sucrose in food and producing organic acids within plaque.

Furthermore, CampYlobacter and CampYlobacter are also constituent bacteria of plaque, and it has been shown that their enzymes and metabolites are the cause of periodontal disease.

Therefore, in order to prevent dental caries and periodontal diseases, efforts have been made to create oral compositions that remove the factors that cause plaque formation and the elements that make up the plaque. For example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 50-
As a chewing gum sweetener, as disclosed in No. 12272, S.

In place of sucrose, which is a substrate for mutan8's sugar metabolism, starch syrup containing oligosaccharides as the main component is used to prevent the production of organic acids that cause dental caries, and in JP-A-57-1.
23110, it is possible to obtain metabolic substrates and vitamins required by plaque bacteria from within the oral cavity, such as by adding to toothpaste and chewing gum an antagonistic substance to biotin, which is an essential vitamin for acid-producing microorganisms that make up plaque. Attempts have been made to remove it, and it fails.

In addition, the composition for preventing dental caries disclosed in JP-A No. 57-99518 (1988) also contains a high-intensity protein that inhibits lucucosyltransferase activity involved in the production of insoluble glucan, which plays an important role in plaque formation. Molecular acidic protein-based substances are added, and the chain gum disclosed in JP-A-49-6161 contains a caries cell lytic enzyme.

However, as mentioned above, simply not using sugar as a sweetener has only a negative meaning in preventing tooth decay. In addition, enzymes and enzyme activity inhibitors τ1. Vitamin inactivators are proteins or glycoproteins and are unstable to heat. Especially when manufacturing chewing gum,
Since it is necessary to heat and melt the materials in a kneader and mix them, even if these substances are added, they naturally tend to be deactivated, so stabilizers such as sucrose are added and constant care is taken to maintain their activity. must be distributed.

The present invention aims to provide chain gum that is relatively easy to handle in the manufacturing process and that can effectively remove insoluble glucans, salivary proteins, etc. that play an important role in plaque formation. purpose.

Hydroxyapatite, the main component of tooth enamel, has been shown to adsorb salivary proteins and polysaccharides such as glucan to its surface, using the same principle as plaque formation. The subject of the present invention focuses on these properties of hydroxyapatite and relates to a dentifrice substitute composition comprising hydroxyapatite powder added to a chewing gum base.

Furthermore, the present invention also provides a dentifrice substitute composition comprising the above hydroxyapatite powder encapsulated in edible microcapsules and mixed into a chewing gum base.

EXAMPLES The present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples below.

Example 1 Chewing gum base 62 Parts by weight Hydroxyapatite 12 Sweetener 25 Flavor 1 The size of the hydroxyapatite powder in the above formulation example was determined to make the adsorption area as large as possible and to prevent tooth enamel from being abraded. Therefore, it is usually made into colloidal particles. Chewing gum base materials include natural resins such as chicle gum, solva gum, and diluten gum, and synthetic resins such as polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl ester, and polyisobutylene, as long as they are commonly used as chain gum bases. You may also use one.

As a sweetener, it is naturally undesirable to add large amounts of sucrose from the perspective of preventing tooth decay and periodontal disease, so sugar alcohols such as xylitol and sorbitol, and glucan synthesis such as coupling shagger and inmarcellose are recommended. A substance that is difficult to become a substrate for sucrose, a substance that competes with sucrose, or an artificial sweetener may be used in combination. This method is similar to the conventional chewing gum manufacturing method.

The plaque adsorption and removal effect of the hydroxyapatite-containing chain gum thus obtained was investigated on 10 subjects through the following experiment.

Experiment 1 Teeth of test subjects who stopped intracavity cleaning for 4 days (A plaque stain remover was applied, and the area ratio of the stained plaque area to the entire surface of the tooth was calculated on the labial and lingual sides of the right front tooth as a percentage. Next, the subjects were divided into groups A and B of 5 people, and the subjects in group A were given a commercially available chewing gum that did not contain hydroxyapatite as a control, and the subjects in group B were given the above chewing gum containing hydroxyapatite. After each test was allowed to stand for 30 minutes, a plaque remover was used again to determine the percentage of the plaque area.

There were considerable individual differences between subjects in both groups, but in group A no significant difference was observed between before and after chewing gum, whereas in group B there was no significant difference between subjects. , average] A difference of 3 points was observed. It is clear from this that some of the plaque was removed by chewing the hydroxyapatite-containing chewing gum.

Experiment 2 10 subjects who had stopped intracavity cleaning for 4 days were asked to masticate hydroxyapatite-containing chewing gum for 20 minutes, then put each piece of chewing gum in ethanol to dissolve the gum base resin, and centrifuge the fine powder of hydroxyapatite. collected. O, lβEDTA was added and dissolved, and glucan and fructan adsorbed on the hydroxyapatite powder were quantified by gel filtration using Sephadex as a column packing. The average total amount of glucans and fructans was 0.5111 F per 5 f chewing gum of this example.

Example 2 The hydroxyapatite powder in Example 1 was
Since it is mixed into the chewing gum base in a naked state, it is difficult to chew during the day, and before it can adsorb the protein film and plaque components on the enamel surface, it has already adsorbed the ingredients of the chewing gum, resulting in sufficient effectiveness. Sometimes you can't. Therefore, hydroxyapatite powder of 400 mesh or less was dispersed in distilled water and encapsulated in gelatin microcapsules (average diameter 500 μm). The water in the capsule is removed by drying under reduced pressure to reduce the water content *20
%. Further, by performing such a treatment, breakage of the capsules can be prevented even at high temperatures when the capsules are mixed into the molten gum base. A chewing gum product was obtained in the same manner as in Experimental Example 1 using the gum base to which the microcapsules containing the hydroxyapatite powder were added. The composition of the material is approximately the same as that in Example.

The same experiment as in Example 1 was conducted to determine the ability of the chewing gum containing microcapsular hydroxyapatite to remove dental plaque. In the method of removing dental plaque in Experiment 1, an average difference of 40 inches was observed between before and after chewing the capsule-containing chain gum. Also,
The average total amount of glucans and fructans was 1.3119. These results demonstrated that the ability to adsorb and remove dental plaque components was improved by encapsulating particulate hydroxyapatite in microcapsules.

As the gelatin microcapsules used in this embodiment, the microcapsules disclosed in JP-A-56-130219 and the microcapsules disclosed in JP-A-48-73378 can be used.

As is clear from the above examples, the present invention is extremely effective in removing pellicle and plaque-forming components from the tooth enamel surface during chewing by adding gel-like hydroxyapatite fine powder to the chain gum base. In addition, since it is a chain gum product, the tooth surface can be exposed to the active ingredient while enjoying the taste and can be used for a relatively long time. Since it can be carried around and chewed at any time, it has a great effect on maintaining the health of the teeth and periodontal period even for lazy people who do not have the habit of brushing their teeth after every meal.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A chewing gum characterized by containing hydroxyapatite powder as a plaque-forming component remover. (21) The chewing gum according to claim 1, which is mixed into a chewing gum base in the form of edible microcapsules of hydroxyapatite powder.