Pre-procedural Rinsing with Essential Oil-based Mouthrinse to Reduce Aerosol Contamination

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of essential oils-based mouthwash (Listerine) in reducing aerosol contamination in a dental clinic and to isolate and identify microbial contaminant in aerosol produced during treatment of caries and periodontal patients. Method: 60 subjects who consist of those receiving treatment for Conservative and Periodontal problems are randomly assigned to pre-rinse with either 20 ml of Listerine or 20 ml of placebo as control rinse to prevent biasness. The control placebo is coloured to resemble the actual product. Every subject is instructed to gargle using the randomly assigned rinses for 1 minute prior to the treatment procedure. Microbial samples of (1) Air, (2) Saliva and (3) Mouth-swab (4) Periodontal/gingival are collected before and after the rinse. All samples were further analyzed for total plate counts, and isolated distinctive microbial colonies were identified using Biolog and further tested to see their death-rate by exposing to the essential oils-based mouthwash. Result: The use of essential oils-based mouthrinse showed significant reduction of microorganisms in oral surface in terms of total plate counts (TPC) from (1) Air, (2) Saliva and (3) Mouth-swab (4) Periodontal/gingival samples. Distinctive colonies isolated and identified as normal flora in mouth. Conclusion:  Essential oils-based mouthwash (Listerine) is effective towards reducing the spread of microorganisms in oral bioaerosol from mouth during dental treatment.