The effect of mouthwash on COVID19 - REC amendment
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating the effect of mouthwash and dental waterline line additives on SARS-CoV-2
IRAS ID
300106
Contact name
David Seymour
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN16269648
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
000, 000
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Dentistry is currently severely limited during the covid-19 pandemic. Concern exists with regard to the potential risk from dental Aerosol Generating Procedures (AGP’s) spreading virus from an asymptomatic covid positive patient.SARS-CoV-2 has been shown to be present in saliva in significant quantities. The concern from this potential mode of transmission is currently mitigated for staff, through the use of appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE3.) The concern however, is for the next patient to enter the surgery, as there could theoretically be viable virus circulating in the air from the previous patients AGP. As a result of this concern, the UK has adopted the most cautious guidelines in the world, and suggested 1 hour ‘fallow time’ needs to be left between a dental AGP and the next patient entering the room, to allow the aerosol to settle, prior to the next patient entering the room. This results in significant downtime in dental practice, which massively reduces the number of patients that can be seen and treated each day. As a consequence of this, patients are having great difficulty accessing appointments and care, which is leading to an ever increasing backlog of cases awaiting care. A number of researchers have already suggested the idea of using mouthwashes to inactivate the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This suggestion has been made not only for dental procedures but speculated as part of a boarder measure to help control the spread of the pandemic in the population. We aim to investigate whether rinsing with different mouthwash affects the level of virus found in saliva.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2
REC reference
21/NS/0073
Date of REC Opinion
14 Jun 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion