Nowadays, chewing gum has become a large commodity that is easily available in stores. Whether you are chewing gum for its benefits or for medical purposes, there are pros and cons that you need to be aware of.
Chewing gum damages your jaw:
Being taken as a snack to be chewed for who knows how long will bring about underlying effects detrimental to your body, particularly your cartilage and the nearby joints in the mouth that has to endure through damage overtime through the use of your jaw.
Chewing gum is unhealthy regardless of its varieties:
Chewing gum doesn't sound pleasant now does it? Whether you are chewing normal or the sugar-free variant of gum you have to be aware of what health risks it carries. Even sugar-free varieties of chewing gum are no exceptions. Have you wondered whats the difference between them? Sugar-free chewing gum that are available in the markets contain what is known as artificial sweeteners which are even more harmful than sugar! sugar itself is already harmful, let aside artificial sweeteners. These fake ingredients are more harmful than you think. It can lead to brain tumors, birth defects and also even cancer.
It also causes headaches as you are injuring your jaw muscles and exacting force on your nerves. When you are getting an headches due to chewing gum, you know its time to stop!
Chewing gum does not rid you of your horrible breath:
Face it, it doesn't get rid of your bad breath as it is due to poor oral hygiene with bacteria building up in between your teeth as well as your tongue and gums, producing the pungent stench from your mouth. But fret not there is an solution to this. Practise proper oral hygiene and spend money on an tongue cleaner! they are an necessity to remove bad breath. When you are brushing your teeth, you want a soft-bristle tooth brush to get the gunk in between your teeth and brush with an 45 degree angle in a circular motion. Brushing hards does not equal to cleaner teeth. Replace your toothbrush every few months when it gets frayed and you are good to go. If you are lazy like a sloth is to brush your teeth, all you have to do is go on google and search tooth decay, these will be examples of what your teeth will be like in the future.
Yes, chewing gum are the source of those stomach pain that you are having as it puts pressure in your intestine and causes cramping and bloating.
That aside, chewing gum also affects your metabolism, now google defines metabolism as the chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life, when you chew gum for long periods of time it encourages saliva production for the same amount of time.
However, there is not to say there are no benefits of chewing gum. There are a plethora of benefits to do so and i am here to dissuade you not to chew gum here thats why the order is the other way round. Benefits such as an keeping you more awake, increasing concentration and wakefulness, reduce stress and anxiety, improves your eating habits and helps to relieve nausea (ironic isn't it.)
All in all, as with all things in life you have to do things in moderation. Try to chew gum in moderation next time as now you know how harmful it is to your health. You want to maximize the benefits of chewing gum while not allowing it to harm you. Of course you can just not listen to this advise and go ahead and chew gum for hours to end, but once the long-term harmful effects are visible, there won't be an regret pill to take anymore. I wish you an enlightened journey ahead of chewing gum seldomly.