Commonly used dental mouthwashes and SARS CoV ‐2 – the road to what we know today

Abstract

The aim of this brief overview is to give clinicians a background for assessing publications presenting in vivo human clinical trials regarding the effect of common dental mouthwashes on SARS-CoV-2 virus. It explains how the effects of oral mouthwashes on oro-nasally transmitted infectious virus was assessed in the early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. The method of virus quantification including effect measures and factors, trial design that may cause flaws in the effect estimates presented in publications are explained. The status of in vivo human clinical trials regarding the anti-virucidal effect of sodium lauryl sulfate, povidone-iodine, chlorhexidine, hydrogen peroxide and cetylpyridinium chloride is presented from the few systematic reviews available at this time. © 2023 British Association of Oral Surgeons and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.