Effectiveness of an oral care tablet containing kiwifruit powder in reducing oral bacteria in tongue coating: A crossover trial

Abstract

Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an oral care tablet containing kiwifruit powder on oral bacteria in tongue coating compared with tongue brushing. Material and 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. We instructed subjects to remove tongue coating by tongue brush for Intervention I, to keep the oral care tablet containing kiwifruit powder on the tongue dorsum and to let it dissolve naturally for Intervention II, and three oral care tablets 1 day before the measurement for Intervention III. 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, the number of total bacteria, and F. nucleatum at Intervention III. The value of WTCI, the number of bacteria, and F. nucleatum decreased significantly after taking the oral care tablets than after tongue brushing. When compared with Interventions I and III, Intervention III showed the effective results; there were significant differences in the number of total bacteria and F. nucleatum between tongue brushing and taking tablets. Conclusions These results suggested that the oral care tablet containing kiwifruit powder could be effective in reducing total bacteria and F. nucleatum in tongue coating when compared with tongue brushing.

Inter-site and interpersonal diversity of salivary and tongue microbiomes, and the effect of oral care tablets

“…The OTU abundance in each treatment group is summarized in Figure 7a–c . Although according to a recent study oral tablet use decreases the abundance of Fusobacterium nucleatum on the tongue of healthy young adults 16 , we did not detect any significant decrease of OTUs that correspond to F. nucleatum . Further, in the current study, whereas 7.6% of all OTUs from the tongue microbiome were assigned to the genus Fusobacterium ( Figure 4a ), the majority of them were classified as F. periodonticum (7.5% of total) and only <0.1% of all OTUs was assigned to F. nucleatum at species level.…”

“…The OTU abundance in each treatment group is summarized in Figure 7a-c. Although according to a recent study oral tablet use decreases the abundance of Fusobacterium nucleatum on the tongue of healthy young adults 16 , we did not detect any significant decrease of OTUs that correspond to F. nucleatum.…”

“…Oral care tablets have been shown previously to reduce tongue coating load and VSCs 12,16 . We here analyzed the effect of oral care tablets on the salivary and tongue microbiome.…”

“…We have previously reported that tongue brushing does not alter the alpha or beta diversity of oral microbiota in healthy adults 14 , 15 . By contrast, according to a recent study, the use of oral care tablets decreases the amount of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) produced by bacteria 16 . Further, oral care tablets that contain actinidin, a cysteine protease found in kiwifruit, reduce oral biofilm formation in vitro 12 .…”

Compliance with Postoperative Recommendations by Patients with Different Psychological Types after Early Implant Loading Treatment

“…Oral hygiene's level was determined by the Winkel Tongue Coating Index (WTCI) [14] on the 8 th -10 th days of the postoperative period. It was based on the evaluation of different tongue coating regions (Fig.…”