* Xylitol - Health Benefits: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol#Health_benefits
* Protect Your Smile with Polyols: Calorie Control Council http://caloriecontrol.org/protect-your-smile-with-polyols/
* Xylitol: Everything You Need to Know (Literally): Authority Nutrition (This site tries to enable browser notifications, so I recommend you choose 'Deny' if you get a popup) https://authoritynutrition.com/xylitol-101/
* About Xylitol: Xylitol.org (I believe this site is owned by Xlear, Inc.) http://xylitol.org/about-xylitol/
I didn't include the fear mongering sites that were like "OMG! It might be made from GMO corn!" or "OMG! Xylitol is manufactured using CHEMICALS!!!". But, you can find that if you just search xylitol on Google.
There was one short study by the European Journal of Dentistry titled "Controversies around Xylitol" which was tl;dr, to be honest. But you're free to view it here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2676064/
The only real major concern about xylitol, IMO, is that as it is with all sugar alcohols, if you cook with it, add it to food, or consume it, it can act as a laxative if you consume it in large amounts. Beyond that, it's all good. As I mentioned, I take a 1/4tsp of pure xylitol and mix it in with one serving with Listerine Natural Mouthwash (the new clear one they just started selling, without dyes and sweetened with stevia) and rinse my mouth with that to get the dental benefits of it, such as keeping your teeth calcified. It's kind of hard to mix the xylitol into the Listerine, so I usually just pour the powder on my tongue and then the Listerine and swish for about 30 seconds. Of course, there are companies that sell toothpaste and mouthwash already with xylitol, but none of them I felt were really as good as toothpastes that include sodium fluoride with fluoride ion, which reduces tartar, or Crest's Stannous fluoride, which only they sell as they have an special deal with the patent holder. The mouthwashes with xylitol didn't seem to keep the plaque off my teeth as well as Listerine does, since it has quite a large amount of alcohol, which most of the others don't - along with their essential oil blend that, for whatever reason, has such good germ killing capabilities (which Johnson & Johnson/Pfizer - Listerine's mfg - have done the studies on).
But, for whatever reason, no mainstream companies like Colgate, Crest, Listerine, or any of the others have decided to include xylitol in their toothpaste in the necessary amount needed to help reduce dental caries & reenamle teeth.
There are also lots of chewing gums available now that contain xylitol, and that's also an excellent way to introduce it to your mouth and saliva throughout the day to kill bacteria, prevent dry mouth, etc, etc. I use Xlear's Spry brand, which can be a little expensive at retail shops, but on Amazon can be found pretty cheaply, depending on how often you like to chew gum. For example, here is 100 pieces of Spry spearmint flavored gum for ~$7. http://amzn.to/2pZYII7. Other flavors are a little more expensive for whatever reason.
If you have any other questions about xylitol, just hit me up on Twitter @pogue25 or leave it in the comments below.
