Can oral hygiene habits prevent hospital infections?
Practicing daily toothbrushing could help reduce the risk of hospital-acquired infections such as pneumonia, according to a news article from New Scientist.
Experts cited in the article indicated that because of several factors — including a lack of access to oral hygiene products, an inability to brush the teeth and the exclusion of oral hygiene from standard care services — a large proportion of patients may not brush their teeth when hospitalized. Forgoing oral hygiene during hospitalization may increase the risk of hospital-acquired pneumonia, which can lengthen the duration of hospitalization, increase the risk of mortality and elevate health care costs.
In a recent randomized controlled trial preprinted in MedRxiv and presented at the 2026 Congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, researchers analyzed whether providing patients with a toothbrush, toothpaste and oral hygiene educational materials may improve both oral care and the rate of nonventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia infection. The hospital staff were also given oral care training and resources for professional oral health advice and encouraged to remind patients to practice toothbrushing.
The researchers reported that the participants who brushed their teeth had about a 60% lower likelihood of developing hospital-acquired pneumonia. Further, the incidence of hospital-acquired pneumonia fell from one to just over 0.4 instances per 100 hospital admission days.
The experts emphasized that the results of the trial highlighted the critical need for oral hygiene communication to mitigate the risk of hospital-acquired infections during hospitalization. The results have not yet been peer reviewed.
Read more: New Scientist
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