Table 1.

Dental hard tissue diseases and procedures where CHX could be used under current UK guidelines and narrative review of recent published evidence.

	Key causative microbes	Formulation	Supporting information
Dental caries	Streptococcus Mutans	Not recommended	May reduce prevalence of S. Mutans and amount of gingival plaque, but unlikely to reduce incidence of dental caries
	Lactobacillus		Early indications mouthwash may result in more acid saliva and microbiome shift to caries causing bacteria
Orthodontics	See dental caries	Not recommended	See dental caries
Pre-extraction	Mixed	Not recommended	Pre-rinsing no beneficial effect on any subsequent bacteraemia
Post-extraction	Mixed	Not recommended	Saltwater mouth rinse preferred post-operatively
Dry socket	None - inflammatory	0.12 or 0.2% daily mouthwash	Evidence to support use as oral rinse pre- or post-extraction, may have benefit on reducing clinical symptoms
MRONJ	None - inflammatory	Not recommended	Most recent guidelines, not recommended in UK prior to extraction
			Outside UK 0.12% or 0.2% daily mouthwash may be used to manage stage 1 symptoms of MRONJ
Root canal procedures	Enterococcus faecalis (most persistent)	0.2 - 2% peri-operative irrigant	May have some benefit on pathogens causative for persistent periodontal periodontitis after root canal therapy, but hydrogen peroxide considered superior
Bacterial aerosolisation	Mixed	10 ml of 0.12 or 0.2% mouthwash for 1 minute prior to procedure	Reduces aerosolisation by 70-90%