Chewing gum can be a seemingly harmless way of freshening your breath while on the go. However experts are warning that using the minty product can have detrimental health consequences, especially on the enamel of your teeth.
This is called demineralisation and makes your teeth more prone to cavities and decay. While cavities can be reduced by using sugar-free gum, munching on the stringy stuff endlessly can wear away the enamel - a protective coating across our teeth.
Dr Kasem, an orthodontic expert, has advised limiting the amount you chew gum to avoid issues further down the line. He told the DailyMail.com: "My recommendation is to chew gum for a maximum of up to 15 minutes."
Munching on gum for too long could also worsen conditions affecting your temporomandibular joints (TMJ), which connect the lower jaw to the skull. These are the joints that slide and rotate in front of the ears and they control chewing, talking, yawning, and swallowing.
Dr Kasem added "chewing gum cannot cause a TMJ problem, but it can aggravate the problem in patients with a TMJ injury", recommended that people with existing issues avoid gum.
It comes weeks after a warning over a sweetener used in gum which could also have harmful effects. An artificial sweetener found in a lot of our favourite treats - including Diet Coke and chewing gums - is set to be declared a potential cancer risk to humans.
The World Health Organization (WHO) will soon classify aspartame as "possibly carcinogenic to humans", according to reports.
The chemical is found in many popular products as a sugar substitute such as Diet Coke, Dr Pepper and Fanta, as well as Extra chewing gum and Muller Light yoghurts. The sweetener entered the market in the 1980s, but the news is likely to change the global food manufacturing market hugely.
Experts have questioned the WHO's decision, which is yet to be confirmed but will reportedly be made public in mid-July. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) ruling is intended to assess whether something is a potential hazard or not, based on all the published evidence.
It does not take into account how much of a product a person can safely consume.
Professor Oliver Jones, an expert in chemistry at the RMIT University in Melbourne, said: "It is also important to note that just because something may possibly cause cancer does not mean that it automatically does if you are exposed to it.
"The dose makes the poison. For example we know UV light in sunlight causes cancer, that’s why we put on sunscreen at the beach – but we don’t put on sunscreen when we go outside in winter even though we are still exposed to sunlight, why? Because the dose is lower in winter."
