Journal of Gastrointestinal & Digestive System
Open Access

Research Article

Correlation between Specific Bacterial Groups in the Oral Cavity and the Severity of Halitosis: Any Possible Beneficial Role for Selected Lactobacilli?

Mario Del Piano^1*, Marco Balzarini¹, Michela Pagliarulo¹, Mario Migliario², Filomena Sforza³, Luca Mogna⁴and Giovanni Mogna⁵

¹Gastroenterology Unit, Maggiore Della Carità Hospital, Novara, Italy

²Dentistry Specialist, Maggiore Della Carità Hospital, Novara, Italy

³Private Hospital “I Cedri”, Fara Novarese, Italy

⁴Biolab Research Ltd., Novara, Italy

⁵Probiotical SpA, Novara, Italy

Corresponding Author:

Del Piano
Gastroenterology Department
Maggiore della Carità Hospital
Novara Corso Mazzini
18-28100 Novara, Italy
Tel: +39 335 6225686
Fax: +39 0321 32466
E-mail: mario.delpiano@alice.it

Received Date: May 22, 2014; Accepted Date: July 08, 2014; Published Date: July 15, 2014

Citation: Piano MD, Balzarini M, Pagliarulo M, Migliario M, Sforza F, et al. (2014) Correlation between Specific Bacterial Groups in the Oral Cavity and the Severity of Halitosis: Any Possible Beneficial Role for Selected Lactobacilli?. J Gastroint Dig Syst 4:197. doi:10.4172/2161-069X.1000197

Copyright: © 2014 Del Piano M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Objective: Halitosis is a widespread problem, normally attributable to specific volatile sulphur compounds (VSC) in the breath. The aim of this study was to first relate halitosis with possible gastric infection by Helicobacter pylori and secondly to quantify specific bacterial groups in the oral cavity flora, thus correlating them with VSC concentrations and Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) intake. Four selected lactobacilli were then assessed in the possible reduction of halitosis in subjects with a total salivary bacterial concentration higher than 105 CFU/ml.

Methods: Specific bacterial groups, namely total bacteria, total coliforms, sulphite-reducing bacteria (SRB) and lactobacilli, were quantified in samples of saliva from 29 subjects taking PPIs compared with 36 control subjects. The amount of the three VSC hydrogen sulfide (H2S), methyl mercaptan (CH3SH) and dimethyl sulfide (CH3)2S in the breath and the presence of H. pylori were determined.

Results: No significant correlation was found between H. pylori and halitosis as well as with PPIs intake. The baseline bacterial groups quantification (log10 CFU/ml of saliva, PPI group vs. control) showed: total bacteria 8.44 vs. 4.47 (p=0.001); total coliforms 4.95 vs. 2.82 (p=0.001); sulfite-reducing bacteria 5.47 vs. 2.58 (p=0.052); total lactobacilli 4.00 vs. 2.36 (p=0.016). After 15 days of lactobacilli supplementation, the same parameters (d15 vs baseline) gave: total bacteria 7.92 vs. 8.44 (p=0.019); total coliforms 3.13 vs. 4.95 (p=0.001); sulfite-reducing bacteria 4.69 vs. 5.47 (p=0.047); total lactobacilli 7.86 vs. 4.00 (p=0.048). No statistically significant differences were noted in VSC concentrations at any time.

Conclusions: The intake of PPIs directly correlated with the overgrowth of specific bacterial groups in the oral cavity, but there was no correlation with H. pylori or with VSC concentration. The significant reduction in all the bacterial groups analysed after two weeks suggested the improvement of the overall oral flora in subjects chronically treated with PPIs.

Keywords