The Effect of Dongchimi Juice Containing Kimchi Lactobacillus on the Oral Health of Patients at a Long-Term Care Hospital: Comparison with Chlorhexidine Solution

Dongsuk Lee¹, Seung-Ah Lee², Yeon(Pheobe) Kim³ ¹˒²Kangwon National University, ³California State University San Bernardino

What is Dongchimi? DESIGN This study is a pretest- MEASUREMENT The oral status of patients was measured using Beck’s Oral Exam Guide (OEG) scores. The Dongchimi is a kind of Kimchi, posttest experimental design in which a number of pathogens in the oral cavity was counted by culture, and the patients’ subjective satisfaction score for each a traditional Korean fermented food, single group of patients was exposed to two oral agent was measured using a visual analogue scale. made from pickled radish. Dongchimi different treatments over a period of time. juice tastes refreshing because it The patients first used chlorhexidine solution RESULT The OEG score was not statistically different with the use of chlorhexidine solution and Dongchimi juice. produces abundant lactic acid bacteria as an oral care agent for 1 week. After an However, using Dongchimi juice had significantly lower number of pathogens and higher subjective satisfaction score during the fermentation process. interval of 2 weeks, they used Dongchimi than using chlorhexidine solution. (T-test and Mann-Whitney test) juice for 1 week. Each agent was applied 2 The aim of this study PURPOSE times a day depending on the protocol. was to identify the effect of Dongchimi OEG Score Number of Pathogens Subjective Satisfaction Score 12 1 juice containing kimchi Lactobacillus as 100 10 0.8 an oral hygiene agent and to compare it 8 0.6 Chlorehexidine with that of chlorhexidine solution 6 50 0.4 (0.12%dilution). 4 Dongchimi juice 2 0.2 The study . 0 SAMPLE & DATA 0 0 included 32 patients hospitalized at a long- taste feeling refresh pretest posttest pretest posttest term care hospital in Korea. Data were t=-17.19 t=-4.62 t=0.95, p=.345 Z=-1.97, p=.048 collected between August 12, 2016 and p=<.001 p=<.001 September 28, 2016. T-test and Mann- Whitney test were conducted to identify •Pretest : Bacteria culture, OEG (Oral Exam Guide) score The results of this study showed that Dongchimi juice had a similar effect of chlorhexidine significant differences between Dongchimi •CHX : 0.12% chlorhexidine solution CONCLUSION •Posttest1: Subjective satisfaction score (taste score & degree of feeling refresh) and gave good taste and feeling to patients. Therefore, Dongchimi juice has a potential as an alternative oral hygiene juice and Chlorhexidine solution in terms of •Posttest2 : Bacteria culture, OEG (Oral Exam Guide), Subjective satisfaction score (taste score & degree of feeling refresh) agent for chemical agents. the effect on oral hygiene . •DCM : Dongchimi juice