Mouthwashes in COVID‐19: Benefit or harm to the oral microbiome?
Abstract
Sir, The human oral microbiome (HOM) is the second largest and most complex microbial community after that of the gut in the human body (Caselli et al., 2018). Dysbiosis of the HOM is often associated with various local and systemic disease conditions (Baghbani et al., 2020). The microbial component of a eubiotic HOM can inhibit pathogen colonization by competitive exclusion and/or by enhancing the immune response (Soffritti et al., 2021). Respiratory viruses, such as SARSCoV2 spread by aerosol transmission encounter the oral microbiota, are modulated in their ability to establish infection and are capable of inducing changes in the resident microbiota (Soffritti et al., 2021). Faced with the potential risk of virus transmission in dental offices international health authorities have suggested the use of antiseptic mouth rinses as an infection control measure prior to dental procedures (Volgenantet al., 2021). However, there are currently few robust studies on the effect of mouth rinses on SARSCoV2 viral load. The first report on the efficacy of mouth rinses in reducing SARSCoV2 viral load in saliva was published in Korea (Yoon et al., 2020). Subsequently, (Martínez Lamas et al., 2020) in a case series of four patients suggested that mouthwash with iodopovidone could reduce SARSCoV2 viral load in saliva in patients with higher viral loads. Despite these results, further controlled clinical studies with larger populations confirming its efficacy are still recommended (Eduardo…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a case series, done in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.
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