Clinical Trial Evaluating Quality of Life in Patients with Intra-Oral Halitosis

Halitosis is considered to be extremely unattractive in the context of social interactions. The main research objective of this study was to evaluate whether intra-oral halitosis may impact patients’ quality of life (QOL). One hundred generally healthy adult participants complaining about oral malodor and diagnosed with intra-oral halitosis were enrolled in this study. For halitosis diagnosis, a gas chromatography (GC) analysis by the Oral Chroma portable device was used. QOL assessment was based on the Short Form 36-item Health Survey (SF-36). The respondents had the highest scores in the physical functioning (PF), activity limitations caused by emotional problems (RE) and activity limitations caused by physical problems (RP) domains, and the weakest in the general health perception (GH), vitality (VT) and emotional wellbeing (MH) ones. The total volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) level was negatively correlated with SF-36 domains. The SF-36 domains’ scores decreased the higher the level of VSC was. The respondents assessed their QOL to be at its best in physical functioning and activity limitations caused by emotional and physical problems and the worst in general health perception, vitality and emotional wellbeing. The strongest correlation between halitosis and decreased QOL was found in the social functioning (SF), vitality, emotional wellbeing and general health perception domains. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Efficacy of a zinc lactate mouthwash and tongue scraping in the reduction of oral halitosis: A single-blind, controlled, crossover clinical trial—a pilot study

Halitosis is defined as an unpleasant odor that comes out of the mouth. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of zinc lactate mouthwash and tongue scraping on oral halitosis. The study was conducted on 60 volunteers that were divided into two groups and followed two types of 14-day oral hygiene protocols on a cross-over basis after a 7-day wash-out period. One protocol was based on tooth brushing only, while the other was based on additional mouth rinsing with a zinc lactate product and tongue scraping. Morning mouth breath was assessed organoleptic and by volatile sulfur compound concentrations. The highest mean organoleptic and volatile sulfur compound measurement values were found in the tooth brushing without mouth washing and tongue scraping oral hygiene protocol (p < 0.05). The zinc lactate mouthwash combined with tongue scraping appears to be an important hygienic procedure to reduce breath odor. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Biomolecules in Dental Applications: Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial Evaluating the Influence of Hyaluronic Acid Adjunctive Therapy on Clinical Parameters of Moderate Periodontitis

The biological activity of hyaluronic acid (HA) has been well-researched during the past decades; however, there are few randomized, controlled trials of its clinical effects in periodontal therapy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of hyaluronic acid on the principal parameters of periodontal healing. A specific, commercially available formulation designed and registered for professional dental application, composed of 16 mg/mL of cross-linked and 2 mg/mL of non-cross-linked HA, was used as an adjunctive to non-surgical periodontal therapy, and clinical parameters were evaluated after 3 months. The addition of HA to periodontal therapy demonstrated more favorable clinical results regarding reduction in inflammation, measured by bleeding on probing (−6% compared to the control group) and gain in periodontal attachment (1 mm more than control group), while it had no effect on probing depth reduction. No side effects were reported. Our study demonstrated that HA is a safe and easy-to-use biological agent; due to its wide array of properties, it may significantly improve the results of periodontal therapy. However, more long-term studies are needed to investigate whether these favorable effects remain over time

The Influence of Hyaluronic Acid Adjunctive Therapy of Periodontitis on Salivary Markers of Oxidative Stress: Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial

Periodontitis is a common oral disease affecting the tooth-supporting tissues. Bacteria have been long viewed as the main causative factor in its development; however, many investigations have proved that aberrant immune and inflammatory response and the resulting misbalance between the damage caused by reactive oxygen species and the antioxidant capacity of tissues may be an underlying factor in disease progression that reduces healing potential. The objective of the current trial is to assess the outcomes of the addition of hyaluronic acid (HA) to standard non-surgical periodontal therapy (NST) on some major oxidative stress markers in saliva. HA-based gel designed for dental application was used and the measurements were taken after 3 months. HA adjunctive therapy had a significantly greater increase in markers with antioxidant properties as well as total antioxidant capacity compared to standard NST alone. Furthermore, clinically measured levels of gingival inflammation (bleeding on probing-BOP) and periodontal destruction (clinical attachment loss-CAL) were significantly correlated with these markers, and the correlation was negative. This investigation demonstrates that HA may indeed express antioxidant properties and improve the antioxidant capacity of periodontal tissues, thus improving the prognosis for the teeth and the results of periodontal therapy. Further investigations will be necessary to determine the duration of these effects over time

Treatment of Residual Periodontal Pockets Using a Hyaluronic Acid-Based Gel: A 12 Month Multicenter Randomized Triple-Blinded Clinical Trial.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the adjunctive effect of hyaluronic acid (HA) gel in the treatment of residual periodontal pockets over a 12-month period. Periodontal patients presenting at least one residual periodontal pocket 5-9 mm of depth in the anterior area were recruited from six university-based centers. Each patient was randomly assigned to subgingival instrumentation (SI) with the local adjunctive use of HA for test treatment or adjunctive use of local placebo for control treatment at baseline and after 3 months. Clinical parameters ( )probing depth (PD), bleeding on probing (BoP), plaque index (PI), recession (REC), clinical attachment level (CAL)) and microbiological samples for the investigation of the total bacterial count (TBC) and presence of specific bacterial species (Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola, Tannerella forsythia, Fusobacterium nucleatum) were taken at baseline and every 3 months, until study termination. PD was determined as the primary outcome variable. From a total of 144 enrolled, 126 participants (53 males, 73 females) completed the entire protocol. Both treatments resulted in statistically significant clinical and microbiological improvements compared to baseline. Although the local application of HA showed a tendency for better results, there was a lack of statistically significant differences between the groups