Systematic Review on Effectiveness of Zinc Chloride in the Treatment of Halitosis

Authors

Vaishnavi Padmanabhan1 , Lubna Fathima2, Bharathwaj3 , Raj Mohan4 , Sunayana Manipal4 , Prabu D.5

Zinc Chloride, Halitosis, Volatile sulphur compounds, antimicrobial, Systematic review.

Background: Halitosis refers to a chronic offensive mal odour produced from body cavities, especially

oral cavity. It can cause detrimental psychological effects on the patient as well as aggravate infections in

the oral cavity due to increase in bacterial load. Zinc chloride provides a solution for both by providing an

antibacterial property and neutralises the VSCs that cause halitosis.

Aim: To study the effectiveness of Zinc chloride in the treatment of Halitosis

Study Design: A systematic review of research articles was performed. Electronic and hand search retrieved

515 records, 436 were screened. The intervention and outcomes were assessed in the study included for

systematic review.

Results: Four studies were included in this systematic review. These studies showed the antimicrobial

efficacy and ability of zinc chloride to inhibit the Volatile sulphur compound (VSC) production by oral

bacteria. It also showed the synergistic property of Zinc chloride when combined with other compounds.

Conclusion: Despite the effective antimicrobial property and neutralisation of Volatile sulphur compound

by zinc chloride, it still is unable to directly act on the gaseous VSCs. Therefore further studies must be done

to improve the efficacy of zinc chloride and to develop new formulations that will help in managing the

condition in a more effective way.