Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Mar 18;11(6):1692.
doi: 10.3390/jcm11061692.

Efficacy of Pre-Procedural Mouthwashes against SARS-CoV-2: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Alvaro Garcia-Sanchez  1 , Juan-Francisco Peña-Cardelles  2   3   4 , Steve Ruiz  5 , Flor Robles  5 , Esther Ordonez-Fernandez  5 , Angel-Orión Salgado-Peralvo  6 , James Balloch  1 , Jacob C Simon  1
Affiliations
Review

Efficacy of Pre-Procedural Mouthwashes against SARS-CoV-2: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Alvaro Garcia-Sanchez et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

The oral mucosa is one of the first sites to be affected by the SARS-CoV-2. For this reason, healthcare providers performing aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs) in the oral cavity are at high risk of infection with COVID-19. The aim of this systematic review is to verify whether there is evidence in the literature describing a decrease in the salivary viral load of SARS-CoV-2 after using different mouthwashes. An electronic search of the MEDLINE database (via PubMed), Web of Science, SCOPUS, and the Cochrane library database was carried out. The criteria used were those described by the PRISMA® Statement. Randomized controlled trial studies that have used mouthwashes as a form of intervention to reduce the viral load in saliva were included. The risk of bias was analyzed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tool. Ultimately, eight articles were included that met the established criteria. Based on the evidence currently available in the literature, PVP-I, CHX and CPC present significant virucidal activity against SARS-CoV-2 in saliva and could be used as pre-procedural mouthwashes to reduce the risk of cross-infection.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; aerosols; cetylpiridinium chloride; chlorhexidine; colony-forming units; hydrogen peroxide; mouthwashes; povidone-iodine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA® flow diagram of the search processes and results.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Zhu N., Zhang D., Wang W., Li X., Yang B., Song J., Zhao X., Huang B., Shi W., Lu R., et al. A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019. N. Engl. J. Med. 2020;382:727–733. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2001017. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hatmi Z.N. A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews on the COVID-19 Pandemic. SN Compr. Clin. Med. 2021;3:419–436. doi: 10.1007/s42399-021-00749-y. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. COVID-19 Data Repository by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) [(accessed on 14 January 2022)]. Available online: https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data.
    1. Fennelly K.P. Particle Sizes of Infectious Aerosols: Implications for Infection Control. Lancet Respir. Med. 2020;8:914–924. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30323-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Morawska L., Milton D.K. It Is Time to Address Airborne Transmission of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Clin. Infect. Dis. 2020;71:2311–2313. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa939. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources