Effectiveness of an Oral Care Tablet in Reducing Tongue-coating Bacteria

Objectives: Accumulation of tongue coating is one of the causes of oral malodor. Therefore, an effective cleaning approach is required. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an oral care tablet on bacteria in tongue coating compared with tongue brushing by a crossover study.
Methods: Thirty-two healthy young adults were enrolled and a crossover clinical trial was conducted. The volatile sulfur compound (VSC) concentration, Winkel tongue-coating index (WTCI) and the number of total bacteria in addition to Fusobacterium nucleatum in tongue coating were measured. For intervention I, we instructed subjects to remove tongue coating by tongue brush. For intervention II, we instructed subjects to keep the oral care tablet, BREO EX containing kiwifruit powder (Ezaki Glico Co., Ltd., Japan), on the tongue dorsum and to let it dissolve naturally. Each value was evaluated before and after an intervention of one hour. For intervention III, we instructed the subjects to take three tablets one day before the measurement.
Results: There were significant differences in terms of the level of H₂S, VSC and WTCI at intervention I, and all evaluation values at intervention II. There were significant differences in terms of the level of H₂S, VSC, WTCI and the number of bacteria at intervention III. By the analysis of the crossover study, the value of CH₃SH, WTCI, the number of bacteria and F. nucleatum decreased significantly after taking the oral care tablets than after tongue brushing. When compared with intervention I and III, there were significant differences on the number of bacteria and F. nucleatum in taking tablets, whereas no significant differences in tongue brushing. These crossover studies had a washout period of three days or more.
Conclusions: These results suggested that the oral care tablet could be effective in reducing tongue-coating bacteria including F. nucleatum and VSC, which causes oral malodor.