Effect of Gargling on the Removal of Oral Epithelial Cells with Adherent Bacteria

Abstract

　To clarify the effect of gargling on the removal of oral mucosal epithelial cells with adherent bacteria, in addition to its cleaning action, the numbers of epithelial cells and bacteria adhering to the epithelial cells in the gargled water were counted after tap water gargling three times. Furthermore, the numbers of bacteria adhering to the scraped buccal mucosal epithelial cells three hours after purified water, sodium azulene sulfonate, and or povidone iodine garglings were also counted and compared. Examination revealed numerous epithelial cells with adherent bacteria in the gargled water, and the numbers of epithelial cells and bacteria adhering to the epithelial cells in the gargled water decreased significantly with the number of times a person gargled. Three hours after purified water or sodium azulene sulfonate gargling, numerous bacteria were found adhering to scraped buccal mucosal epithelial cells. In contrast, the number of bacteria adherent to the epithelial cells in the scraped buccal mucosal epithelial cells was remarkably decreased after povidone iodine gargling. The findings suggest that gargling removes epithelial cells with adherent bacteria, which might be an important objective of gargling. Bacteria which proliferate several hours after gargling adhere again to the epithelial cells, and gargling with povidone iodine significantly reduced the number of bacteria adhering to the epithelial cells as compared to purified water or sodium azulene sulfonate gargling. However, as povidone iodine also damages the normal bacterial flora and mucosal epithelial tissue, development of a new compound(s) for gargling that would inhibit bacterial adherence to the buccal mucosal epithelial cells without these harmful effects is desired.