7 January 2021 - A team from the National Dental Centre Singapore, Singapore General Hospital and the Duke-NUS Medical School recruited 36 patients from June to August 2020 for a study involving rinsing their mouths with mouthwash that contain povidone iodine (PI), cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) and chlorhexidine gluconate (CHX). They were divided into four groups and rinsed their mouths with water and the three types of mouthwash for 30 seconds. The team collected saliva samples from patients at four time points: before rinsing, five minutes, three hours, and six hours after rinsing. The results showed that the viral load in the saliva of patients using mouthwash containing CPC and PI was significantly lower than that of patients who rinsed their mouths with water. A/Prof Jaya Seneviratne, Principal Investigator of the study, mentioned that using mouthwash as a pre-procedural step before dental treatment may help to reduce the transmission of the virus through aerosols.
SOURCE: LIANHE ZAOBAO, SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS LIMITED, REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION
