Chitosan in oral health: a proof of concept

Nowadays chitosan has established itself as a high sought material due to its biocompatibility, reduced toxicity and highpercentage of amino groups that confer it specific functionalities, including antimicrobial activity and acceleration of woundhealing, and studies into chitosan’s applicability have shown chitosan’s potential and feasibility. One of the possible fieldsof application for chitosan based products is the oral cavity, since several of the existing oral health products possesssecondary effects. The aim of this work was to prove that chitosan is a feasible component for oral health productsbiofabrication. As such a chitosan based mouthwash was developed and validated through assessment ofin vitroandin vivoantimicrobial activity, antibiofilm activity and sensory properties. The results obtained showed that it was possible tosuccessfully incorporate chitosan in an oral care product while retaining a considerable antimicrobial activity.In vitrotestingdemonstrated that the chitosan mouthwash possessed a wide range of antimicrobial activity against oral pathogens andwas capable of inhibiting microbial adherence and biofilm formation. Direct comparison with two commercial mouthwashesshowed that the chitosan mouthwash possessed stronger activity than both reference samples.In vivotesting showedthat the chitosan mouthwash was very effective in reducing enterococci and streptococci bacterial counts up to 30 min.after rinsing. Overall, the present shows a successful development of a chitosan-based product and is a tangible proof ofconcept for future utilization of chitosan in oral health.