Oral healthcare providers can be at increased risk of disease transmission, such as tuberculosis, measles, and SARS, due to aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs). It has been hypothesized the use of mouth rinse by clients before dental procedures could reduce this risk of disease transmission by reducing the microbial load of aerosols generated by AGPs.
In this Cochrane systematic review, 17 randomized controlled trials were compiled to assess the effects of preprocedural mouth rinses used in dental clinics to minimize incidence of infection in oral healthcare providers and reduce or neutralize contamination in aerosols.
The authors found none of the included studies measured the incidence of infection among oral healthcare providers. The studies measured only reduction in level of bacterial contamination in aerosols. None of the studies evaluated viral or fungal contamination. There was only low to very low certainty for all findings. The authors were unable to draw conclusions regarding whether there is a role for preprocedural mouth rinses in reducing infection risk or the possible superiority of one preprocedural rinse over another. The review identified the need for more research that measures the effect of rinses on infectious disease risk among oral healthcare providers and on contaminated aerosols at larger distances with standardized outcome measurement .
