The effect of Bacillus subtilis mouth rinsing in patients with periodontitis.

Bacillus subtilis is an effective probiotic product for prevention of enteric infections both in humans and animals. We hypothesized that a mouth rinse containing Bacillus subtilis should adhere to and colonize part of the oral bacteria on periodontal tissue. The rinsing ability of Extraction 300E (containing Bacillus subtilis: E-300) was compared with that of a mouth wash liquid , Neosteline Green (benzethonium chloride; NG) that is commonly used in Japan. Compared with NG rinsing, E-300 rinsing resulted in a marked change in the BANA-score. The mean BANA values (score +/- SD) over the course of the study from 0 to 30 days were 1.52 +/- 0.51 (p < or = 0.1) and 0.30 +/- 0.47 (p < or = 0.01) for E-300, and 1.56 +/- 0.51 and 0.93 +/- 0.68 for NG, respectively. Gingival Index also had improvement, while probing pocket depth and bleeding on probing showed small improvements. Mouth rinsing with E-300 significantly reduced periodontal pathogens compared with NG. These results suggest that Bacillus subtilis is an appropriate mouth rinse for patients with periodontitis.