The Inhibitory Effect of Bismuth Oxychloride in Halithosis Caused by Volatile Sulfur Compounds

Abstract

Because of the awareness of people to good hygiene in recent years, there are now many people who are more concern about halitosis or commonly known as 'bad breath'. Therapeutic or prophylactic agents for the suppression of halitosis have increased. Zinc chloride has been recognized to affect volatile sulfur oxide which is the main substance that has been traditionally known to cause halitosis. In this study, we compared the inhibitory effect of bismuth oxychloride and zinc chloride in vitro on hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan sulfur which are volatile substances. As a result, both bismuth oxychloride and zinc oxide have the same inhibitory effect on hydrogen sulfide. On the other hand, bismuth oxychloride's inhibitory effect on methyl mercaptan is significantly higher than zinc chloride.

Inhibitory Effects of Zinc Chloride and Citric Acid on Release of Volatile Sulfur Compounds

“…The sample was then transferred to a 200-ml flask and allowed to stand at ambient temperature, keeping the test-tube tightly closed. After 5 min, the gas inside the flask was collected in the gas chamber to detect gases and measure their concentrations 7) . Similar tests were carried out using distilled water, instead of the test sample solution, as a negative control.…”

“…The inhibitory effect of zinc chloride on halitosis has been identified in many basic clinical studies [4][5][6] . Recently, we reported that bismuth oxychloride, which is widely used as a synthetic pearl essence in cosmetics, is an effective VSC inhibitor 7) . In a previous in vitro study, we discovered that citric acid and zinc chloride effectively inhibited VSC formation in artificial saliva.…”