Hello everyone, this is Wendy Briggs bringing you some interesting and important information about home care products. On a podcast not too long ago, we discussed this briefly and so I wanted to bring along more information for those that are wondering about the best option to help patients do better with their home care. So I wanna talk about how much has changed, right? And over the years, we've had products that have been gold standards for quite a long time, that now are not recommended. So the question really is, what do we know today about mouth rinse that might change how we manage patients' health? Well, I mentioned that some of the research is pointing us in a different direction. It was published in October of 2014 that chlorhexidine, although it had been considered a gold standard for many of us, has been a widely used broad spectrum antimicrobial agent, but it's found that several microbes have been reported to survive in the presence of currently used concentrations of chlorhexidine. So this was the first paper published about what's happening with this tolerance levels. And they're finding that because bacteria have learned to form biofilms for their own protection, chlorhexidine is not as effective as it once was.
Further research has gone on to suggest that the reason that they've become resistant to this bacteria is the bacteria itself, has induced mechanisms of resistance due to phenotypic and genotypic changes. And so what they're finding is some of the most virulent strains of bacteria that can cause problems and infection in the mouth appear to be highly resistant to chlorhexidine by mechanism that's not yet fully understood. So we're trying to learn more about this and the research has continued and the Journal of Dental Sciences also published in 2014 that chlorhexidine was demonstrated to exhibit cytotoxicity resulting in increasing levels of free radical generation and subsequent cell death. And of course, if we're using it after scaling and root planning, the entire goal is to regenerate tissue and to minimize the pocket depth, right? So we want new cellular growth. We can't be using chlorhexadine if it's taking us backwards of that objective. So the research continues on, right? In the Journal of Clinical Periodontology, they talked about recent investigations using cells from the periodontium chlorhexidine has been shown to impair human fibroblast attachment to root surfaces. So this again is taking us away from our goal. So what we need to do is look at, in all this research, Dr. Samuel Lowe, a widely respected periodontist and lecturer said he would never use chlorhexidine in the practice and it's time to look at alternative options. So that's really what we're doing now, because of all this study that is showing us that chlorhexidine permanently halt cell migration, significantly reduces survival of the fibroblasts, myoblasts and osteoblasts. We need to further examine the safety of this product. So even though chlorhexidine is in one of the most effective and popular antiseptic or antimicrobial substances used in medicine and dentistry, recent research is saying that from the clinical point of view, it's advised to increase the awareness regarding chlorhexidine not only amongst patients, but among medical and dental staff and consider the usage of alternative rinses and substances.
I can tell you in many forums online, there are still plenty of people who don't understand and aren't aware of this research that are still using chlorhexidine in the practice. So when Dr. was sharing some of this research at the American Academy of Oral Systemic Health meeting a few years ago, someone said, well, what should we use? And of course, the research says it's time to consider the use of alternative substances. So what does that look like? What Dr. Lau stated was he encourages the use of essential oils based rinses. Now, unbeknownst to many at that time, I had already dove into research regarding mouth rinses. And I'd been asked to be a part of a special project looking at and utilizing essential oils, plant-based essential oils, as an alternative option to reduce biofilm and control the bacteria in the mouth. And the reason behind that is because of multiple properties. So when I heard Dr. Lau say that, he encouraged the use of essential oils based rinses, I got really excited because I knew we were on the right track.
Dr. Schechter years ago had an article published in Dentistry Today where he talked about the overuse of antibiotics in dentistry and how this has probably contributed to the fact that some of these microorganisms have developed resistance to our efforts and become virulent. One of the findings that they shared in this article was that microorganisms do not appear to develop tolerance or resistance to the antibacterial effects of essential oils. So we knew we were on the right track. I'm gonna go ahead and talk about some of that research that is also very impactful when it comes to the effects of essential oils on the oral microbiome, become more aware in recent years about the need to preserve the healthy bacteria and be able to more effectively target the damaging or harmful bacteria. So I wanna share with you some of the research about that. In this study published in 2023 in Pharmacy Magazine, they talked about how essential oils have the potential to be used as therapeutic agents for many oral diseases through their antimicrobial, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and anti-inflammatory properties.
Essential oils, interestingly enough, are found to be the most efficient agent against streptococcus mutans, which chlorhexidine had zero impact on, followed by some other strains as well. Essential oils also are found to prevent the adhesion and formation of biofilms. One of the most compelling reasons I got involved in the project in the first place was the studies showing that essential oils reduce biofilm formation and once treated in those areas are able to prevent further formation of biofilm in that same area. What a game changer that can be if we're able to use an essential oils based product in the pocket that then prevents the adhesion and formation of biofilm in the future for a period of time after it's been used. So many amazing properties of the essential oils and certainly essential oils are not new to dentistry. We have several dental products that have used eugenol for example, for more than a hundred years.
So in dentistry, we know that essential oils do provide all of these therapeutic effects that I've mentioned recently from the study, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anti-tumor, antibacterial, antifungal, all of which really help us in our attempts to control disease in the mouth. In October of 2020, the Journal of Infectious Diseases talked about how essential oils-based mouth rinses that they studied significantly reduced viral infectivity up to three orders of magnitude to background levels. So they found that essential oils based products became popular to use before treatment during COVID-19. In order for us to treat our patients safely during that time, we were using essential oils in that way. So here's an interesting video showing the impact of essential oils on bacteria. And we're gonna look here at the microscope slide of all of the bacteria.
Two minutes after the introduction of essential oils comes into play, we see a much different picture of the biofilm, if you will, of that bacteria. Now, many patients are used to an essential oils-based products and they've used things like Listerine before. Many of us struggle with Listerine because the essential oils they use are chemically based, not plant-based, as well as the flavor is awful.
So that's one of the reasons I got involved in this project in the first place is I thought compliance was always a struggle with patients with chlorhexidine, And certainly compliance is a struggle with other alternative products out there like Listerine, other even natural based products had very poor patient compliance because the taste was horrible. I used to tell patients, it tastes awful, but you'll get used to it. That's not ideal. You know, so when we learn what patients really want to use. So that's one of the reasons I got involved in the Essential Smiles project from the very beginning is I thought, could I be involved? Could we actually create something that accomplished all the main objectives on a therapeutic side, but actually also we could get compliance with patients because it tasted good? So disclosure statement, I was one of the creators and founders of Essential Smiles in the first place. And we're really excited about what this product is doing in the marketplace.
Speaker 1: My name is Kati Smith. I'm a practicing hygienist here in Orem, Utah. Essential smiles is a must have for your office. I think that it's something that replaces a void that we don't have. We don't have a mouth rinse that us as dental professionals like to recommend that's not a listerine or an act or something that they can get at the grocery store.
Speaker 2: I'm a single mom and I have seven children. And my 15-year-old always has multiple cavities, oftentimes on multiple surfaces and we went in after using the product for about six months to a year. And for the first time ever, he had no cavities at a checkup.
Speaker 3: Things have changed dramatically. I no longer have any troubles with the medications causing the dry mouth. also have seen, as well as my dentist has told me, we've seen a huge increase in the benefits of it. The pH is different in my mouth and he's telling me it's working really well.
Speaker 4: There's a bacterial load that's out of control, and it really should inspire us to do more than traditional OHI. We need to look deeper and recognize that if we don't focus on reducing the back-to-the-ear load in the mouth, that the patient remains at risk, not just for oral diseases, but systemic diseases that can really change their quality of life. So in general, there's your science about what essential oils are. And now it's up to us to figure out how do we use them?So if this grapefruit made some awesome little compound, let's figure out how it can benefit us. It worked on it for what? Two million years, thousand years, whatever. It's figured out how to protect itself. Now that's why we're using them for our bodies.
Wendy in Video: That's so interesting to hear you talk about over the counter products that way, because here's why we got involved in this project is because we knew the over the counter products don't work. We've seen that for how many years in dentistry? More than 20 years. Patients frustrated, we're frustrated because the stuff that they're buying and paying good money for isn't providing the impact long-term ability for them.
Speaker 4: What are you going to give them? What are you going to do so that when they go home, their oral health is as clean or as optimal as this? When you kind of left them, that's really what we're talking about.
Speaker 3: I would recommend that anyone use it, especially those people who suffer from period disease and gum disease. It can change your life dramatically.
Speaker 1: I think Essential Smiles is something that targets those patients that
is it all in one, a one-stop shop where they can look for cavity prevention as well as help, gum health. So I think Essential Smiles is something that has such a need in every dental office and in every hygienist, every dentist can find a way to recommend this to patients.
So, there you have a brief introduction to essential smiles. And I'm gonna give you some more information to it. We're very, very excited that we were reviewed as a part of a study in Gordon Christiansen's Clinicians Report Magazine. shown here in June of 2024, it was highly rated by clinical, CRA scientists and clinical evaluators. And they looked at a lot of different things. It talks about the ingredients, 81 % of the evaluators stated they would incorporate essential smells, mouth rinse, and spritz into their practice. 96 % rated it excellent and good worthy of trial by colleagues. So we're very proud of those results. And I'm actually happy to say just recently, I've shared the link here for you, We were featured as one of the best products for 2025 in the clinicians report buying guide. So again, really picking up steam because people are really appreciating all of the benefits of the product, as well as the therapeutic results, right? And of course, patient compliance is there.
So why we use essential oils? Because they're incredibly effective against the pathogens in the mouth that we're fighting without harming the good bacteria in the microbiome. When it's used as the irrigation after scaling and root planing, it works on a cellular level and helps reduce future biofilm formation. Again, lavender, one of the essential oils we've chosen, is very, effective in aiding collagen healing. So it can help those sites heal in addition to preventing future biofilm formation. Xylitol is a known cavity fighter. It's been proven as a powerful weapon against the bacteria that cause cavities and also helps to increase salivary flow. So that's incredibly effective with patients who have a threat for caries as well as dry mouth struggles. The neutralizing ingredients also help to balance the pH of the mouth and prevent chronic disease. So, these are all the elements that we wanted to include in the product and the essential oils that we've chosen to include in this formula are shown for you here. Lavender, lot of different health impacts of lavender. I mentioned the collagen fiber healing, peppermint, clove, and cassia.
So I want to give you just a little bit more information about each one of those. Peppermint is very, very effective in a lot of ways in the mouth. That's why it's in virtually every toothpaste brand known to man. There's a few studies shown for you here, very, very effective at controlling the quantity of bacteria in the mouth, right? So peppermint can access an effective antiseptic solution against oral pathogens. This study proved and rated the antimicrobial efficacy of five different essential oils against pathogens and peppermint was very, very effective at inhibiting the growth of the bacteria, as you can see on this slide shown here.
So on the left side is with the essential oil, you can see virtually no bacteria growing and the right side is the control. So both peppermint and eugenol are studied here in this slide, both of which were very effective at controlling the bacterial load. So peppermint has proven to be a good antiseptic, antibacterial, antiviral. It also has a light, clean, taste and it stimulates and strengthens salivary flow. So that's one of the reasons we included it in this formula. Again, my goal was to have one product that helped patients that had a caries threat and a perio threat.
Cassia, a lot of people don't know what cassia is, but it's a derivative of cinnamon. And we included cassia because of its efficacy in wound care. If you think about periodontal disease or gingivitis, it really is a bunch of microscopic wounds that are inflamed that need to be healed, and so that's one of the reasons why we included Cassia. Cassia also shows very, very high antimicrobial activity for strep mutans, the main cause of cavities that research has shared for you here. Also shown significant antibacterial activity against a wide range of gram positive and gram negative bacteria, including MRSA, which is one of the most virulent strains known today. So this compound also has a specific neutralizing activity against those drug resistance markers and so if it's drug resistant against MRSA, a really, really powerful resistant strain of bacteria, the resistant strains in the mouth are very effectively impacted by cassia.
Clove, again, Clove is no stranger to dentistry. There's a couple of studies that I'll share with you here, Eugenol is a part of clove and there's antibacterial effects to this that really provides a very effective antiseptic solution against oral pathogens. That was published in 2013. Clove is active against oral bacteria associated with dental caries and periodontal disease. Again, we wanted one product that would impact both and clove is effective against a large number of other bacteria and viruses. So very important biological activities of Eugenol that we wanted to harness as a part of this formula.
When we look at lavender again, lavender is very effective. It shows fungicidal activity against Candida albicans, which is a very prevalent strain in the mouth. Also other studies, one published in 2004 demonstrated the potential of essential oils as antibacterial agents also in MRSA infections. So again, we're trying to throw everything we can at the virulent resistant strains of bacteria. We also, find it interesting and also helpful that lavender helps reduce anxiety and reduce mental stress. Another study published in June of 2014 really focused on the anti-inflammatory effects of lavender essential oil. And this is used in a variety of ways, notably against asthma. So anti-inflammatory effects against illnesses are probably, I guess, conditions that have been proven to be very difficult to treat in the past.
So if you're a member of the Team Training Institute, we provide member discounts. And so you can use this QR code that can take you right to the order page. You use your hygiene coach's first name as your discount code. If you don't have an assigned hygiene coach and you're listening to this and you're interested in ordering essential smiles, you can always use my name. Wendy also works as a discount for you to try.
the mouth rinse and the spritz together. They're designed to work together as an impactful agent in your practice. So the product is safe for ingestion. And that's why you can encourage patients to refill their spritz. Studies about xylitol show that four to five times of xylitol exposure every day is the ideal to really reduce disease going forward. Well, we know patients aren't going to use a mouth rinse four to five times a day, which is why they can rinse with essential oils in the morning or the evening or both.
Every time they have something that has sugar in it or has a low pH impact, their diet Coke, their red wine with dinner, they can spritz with that spritz and get the positive impacts of xylitol and the pH neutralizing ingredients at the same time. So we hope as you continue to learn more about Essential Smiles, you'll be as excited about it as we are. We've heard from hundreds of clinicians all over the country that love it and use it. And we hope that you will do the same. also do have other trainings where we talk about how to use the essential smiles as an all natural fluoride alternative for those patients who are opposed to fluoride on principle. So there's so many different ways that we can use the essential smiles in the practice and we hope that you'll join us in learning how it can help your patients.
