Probiotics may improve oral hygiene and reduce oral microbial load and optimize denture care: Study
Probiotics may improve oral hygiene and reduce oral microbial load and optimize denture care suggests a study published in the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry.
The accumulation of microorganisms on complete dentures has adverse effects on general health. Precautions should be taken to prevent colonization by these harmful pathogens, but whether an intake of probiotics effectively reduces microbiota is unclear. This clinical study aimed to examine the effectiveness of probiotics against the microbial colonization of dentures and the oral regions.Sixty-one edentulous participants with dentures were recruited, and samples were collected from the palate, cheek, tongue, and denture surface using sterile erasers before and after applying probiotics containing Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus casei, and Bifidobacterium bifidum.
The count of bacterial species in the original culture was calculated by multiplying the number of colonies by the dilution factor of cells per mL [log10 (CFU/mL)] for different media. Spread plating was used to colonize in vitro. A Wilcoxon test was used to compare the groups according to time reveal. Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney U tests were performed to compare the values in the various regions studied (α=.05).
Results: A statistical difference in microbial count was found before and after probiotic intake (P<.05). For each medium, the microbial count values were statistically lower on the tongue, palate, dentures, and cheek after probiotic intake (P<.05), except for in malt medium on dentures (P>.05). Probiotics reduced the microbial count in the oral region and showed promising results for oral health and denture hygiene. Since the oral microbiota has among the highest levels of species diversity in the human body, further studies are needed.
Reference:
Evirgen Ş, Kahraman EN, Korcan SE, Yıldırım B, Şimşek AT, Aydın B, Ünal M. Intake of probiotics as an option for reducing oral and prosthetic microbiota: A clinical study. J Prosthet Dent. 2024 Aug 21:S0022-3913(24)00470-0. doi: 10.1016/j.prosdent.2024.07.008. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39174381.
