(HealthScoutNews) -- The good news is that gum is a great leveler for your breath.

Dental researchers in Strasbourg, France, set out to test whether those breath gums -- and other plain gum -- really work.

As reported in the journal Quintessence International, they compared the effects of breath gums with a placebo gum and with no gum at all. The gums, with or without special ingredients, did a great job of reducing bad breath. The control group, which had no gum, continued to smell.

The researchers conclude that the gums themselves were a breath of fresh air, not necessarily the ingredients. Any kind of chewing gum, they say, helps remove mouth plaque and stimulates saliva.