Mar 9, 2019
Vidcast: https://youtu.be/bLgAUHPUvnk
Using popular mouthwashes may cause your blood pressure to jump up significantly. Dentists and cardiologists at the University of Texas report that the antibacterial agent in mouthwash, chlorhexidine, prevents the normal oral bacteria from metabolizing ingested nitrates into the nitric oxide that plays a key role in normalizing blood pressure.
The investigators recruited subjects from the faculty, staff, and student populations in order to study their oral bacteria, oral nitrites, and blood pressures before, during, and after their use of mouthwash. The subjects used Peridex mouthwash twice daily for 7 days.
Use of the mouthwash and tongue cleaning significantly elevated both the systolic and the diastolic blood pressures as it depressed counts of oral bacteria and the concentration of nitric oxide. Parameters returned to baseline 3 days following mouthwash discontinuation.
This study is an additional reason why so-called therapeutic mouthwashes containing anti-bacterial agents should be avoided except on the express recommendation of your dentist or periodontist.
#mouthwash #chlorhexidine #nitric oxide #hypertension #healthnews
Tribble GD, Angelov N, Weltman R, Wang B-Y, Eswaran SV, Gay IC, Parthasarathy K, Dao D-HV, Richardson KN, Ismail NM, Sharina IG, Hyde ER, Ajami NJ, Petrosino JF and Bryan NS (2019) Frequency of Tongue Cleaning Impacts the Human Tongue Microbiome Composition and Enterosalivary Circulation of Nitrate. Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol. 9:39. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2019.00039