by Ashley Attanucci
Staff Writer

We all love gum. We love to have some, share some, ask everybody in our class for some. Some of us like to stick gum on other people’s things, or play with our a-b-c gum, and smack our gum; some chew gum for its unique texture, others for its flavor. Some even chew gum for energy (ever heard of caffeinated gum?) or whiter teeth (yeah, Orbit White)! And a few like to make art with their gum wrappers.

So, I think it is safe to say, we all have to love gum, for one reason or another (and chew it at school whether we are allowed to or not).

But when we want our gum no longer we spit it out on the street, toss it in ashtrays, stick it under tables and wad pieces up in scratch paper. To celebrate and honor the underappreciated smacking snack we love, here are a few fun facts to get to know a little more about what’s in your mouth for hours of each day:

• Gum was invented and used in early Greece
• And patented in the United States in 1869 by a dentist, even though many dentists claim that chewing gum can be at times unhealthy
• Chewing gum excessively can lead to joint fatigue and headaches, while chewing gum after meals has shown to stimulate saliva production which helps clean your mouth
• Bubble gum was finally patented in the U.S. in 1928
• The Double Bubble bubble gum factory makes 900 pieces of wrapped Double Bubble in one minute
• Dogs can die if they ingest certain types of gum
• Gum was originally made of a latex ingredient called Chicle, and in Spanish gum is translated as “chicle”

Watch how gum is made here.