Site-specific mouth rinsing can improve oral odor by altering bacterial counts: Blind crossover clinical study

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether site-specific mouth rinsing with oral disinfectants can improve oral odor beyond the traditional panoral mouth disinfection with mouth rinses by targeting specifically oral malodor implicated anaerobic bacteria METHODS: Twenty healthy fasting subjects volunteered for a blinded prospective, descriptive correlational crossover cross-section clinical trial conducted during the month of Ramadan between July and August 2013 in Albaha province in Saudi Arabia involving the application of Listerine(®) Cool Mint(®) mouth rinse by either the traditional panoral rinsing method, or a site-specific disinfection method targeting the subgingival and supragingival plaque and the posterior third of the tongue dorsum, while avoiding the remaining locations within the oral cavity. The viable anaerobic and aerobic bacterial counts, volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) levels, organoleptic assessment of oral odor, and the tongue-coating index were compared at baseline, one, 5, and 9 hours after the treatment. RESULTS: The site-specific disinfection method reduced the VSCs and anaerobic bacterial loads while keeping the aerobic bacterial numbers higher than the traditional panoral rinsing method. CONCLUSION: Site-specific disinfection can more effectively maintain a healthy oral cavity by predominantly disinfecting the niches of anaerobic bacteria within the oral cavity.