Another study has found mouthwash could be effective in killing the coronavirus. The findings should not be seen as a protection against getting the disease or as a replacement for other precautions, experts say.
Scientists at Cardiff University in Wales said their study shows “promising signs” that over-the-counter mouthwash could become an important part of people’s routines.
An earlier study, by Penn State College of Medicine, found some oral antiseptics and mouthwashes might be able to inactivate human coronaviruses in saliva, making them possibly useful for reducing the amount of virus in the mouth after infection. This might help to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
There is no evidence, however, mouthwash should be used as a treatment for coronavirus, Dr. Nick Claydon said, because it will not reach the the respiratory tract or the lungs.
“If these positive results are reflected in Cardiff University’s clinical trial, CPC-based mouthwashes... could become an important addition to people’s routine, together with hand washing, physical distancing and wearing masks, both now and in the future,” the BBC quoted Claydon, a specialist periodontologist, as saying.
The Cardiff study, which is yet to be peer reviewed, found mouthwashes with at least 0.07% cetypyridinium chloride (CPC) showed “promising signs” of killing the virus in a lab.
“This study adds to the emerging literature that several commonly-available mouthwashes designed to fight gum disease can also inactivate the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (and other related coronaviruses) when tested in the laboratory under conditions that are designed to mimic the oral/nasal cavity in a test tube,” Richard Stanton, lead author on the study, told the BBC.
Mouthwash can be added to Clorox, Pine-Sol, Lysol and other products that can kill the coronavirus on surfaces. That doesn’t mean they will stop the source of the virus.
“Yes. There is some data out there — I am not saying it’s great data — that fill-in-the-blank substance inactivates or inhibits replication of coronavirus,” Dr. Graham Snyder, associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, told CNN.
None of these studies show they can reduce the risk of either catching or transmitting the virus, Snyder points out.“ When we exhale, cough, sneeze or what have you, virus could be coming from any of those places,” Snyder said.
A mouthwash or other oral rinse might reduce the amount of virus or bacteria in the mouth for a short period, Snyder added, but microbes will grow back.
“You can’t sterilize your mouth. It is never going to be totally free of pathogens,” Snyder told CNN.
“Using these oral rinses won’t substantially stop the disease process. The virus will continue to replicate.”
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