Update on low-calorie sweeteners to benefit dental health.

Ten different types of high-intensity, low-calorie sweeteners that have potential dental applications as sugar substitutes are appraised, taking into consideration their general properties, safety and toxicological assessment, metabolic fate in the body, regulatory status and any dental research that has been carried out on them. Attention focuses on the continuing expansion in the wide diversity of types of sweeteners becoming available, the multiple sweetener concept, the growing interest in materials of natural origin, and the distinction between non-cariogenic and actively anti-cariogenic properties of the individual sweeteners.