Practical use of povidone-iodine antiseptic in the maintenance of oral health and in the prevention and treatment of common oropharyngeal infections

Kanagalingam, J.; Feliciano, R.; Hah, J. H.; Labib, H.; Le, T. A.; Lin, J.-C.

Povidone-iodine is considered to have the broadest spectrum of antimicrobial action compared with other common antiseptics such as chlorhexidine, octenidine, polyhexanide (20) and hexetidine (26) showing efficacy against Gram-positive and Gramnegative bacteria, bacteria spores, fungi, protozoa and several viruses (20) . Persistency of effect has also been demonstrated in a study that assessed 1% PVP-I as a preprocedural antibacterial agent in individuals with varying degrees of oral hygiene (27) . Reductions in micro-organism concentrations were found to be sustained for at least 4 h (27) . Furthermore, there is some evidence that PVP-I is able to restore the natural microbial flora following bacterial infection, as observed in the setting of bacterial vaginosis (28) . In a prospective, randomised clinical trial in women with bacterial vaginosis, treatment with PVP-I led to rapid re-colonisation of native lactobacilli (28) .