Effects of Normal Saline and Essential Oil Gargling on Bacterial Colonization in Intubated Patients for General Anesthesia

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare and analyze the effects of gargling using normal saline or essential oil on oral bacterial colonization of the subjects who did transoral endotracheal intubation for general anesthesia. Methods: A repeated measures, non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used in this study. The subjects of the study included 58 people; the gargling group with normal saline (n=19); the gargling group with essential oil (n=20); and the control group (n=19). Data were collected from University hospitals in a Korean province from August 13-31, 2012. The collected data were analyzed with $X^2$-test, t-test, ANOVA and Scheff$\acute{e}$ test using SPSS 19.0. Results: Although statistically significant differences among the three groups did not appear in the change of the aerobic bacterial colony before and after the experiments, the aerobic bacterial colony of the gargling group with normal saline ($71.58{\pm}143.39$) and the group with essential oil ($6.95{\pm}332.07$) have increased less compared to the control group ($145.42{\pm}385.01$). The change of the anaerobic bacterial colony before and after the experiments, the control group was ($167.58{\pm}483.58$) and the gargling group with essential oil was ($169.70{\pm}291.60$) and increased, while the gargling group with normal saline ($-42{\pm}331.09$) reduced, but statistically significant differences have not appeared. Conclusion: These findings indicated that oral gargling with normal saline is effective in reducing anaerobic bacterial colonization.

생리식염수와 에센셜오일을 이용한 가글링이 전신마취를 위한 경구 기관 내 삽관 환자의 균집락화에 미치는 영향