We read with great interest the letter of Ms Lizy and colleagues regarding our publication on the effects of oral care interventions on oropharyngeal colonization of children receiving mechanical ventilation. We thank the authors for the favorable comments regarding the oral care protocol, for sharing their impressions concerning the negative results identified, and for the suggestion of bacteria quantification.
Our study demonstrated that mechanical intervention in oral care was statistically similar to mechanical intervention and chlorhexidine regarding the identified differences in colonization between 2 groups of children, despite the marginally significant chlorhexidine effect on bacteria overgrowth control.
Similar results were verified in a controlled trial on the effect of dental plaque antiseptic decontamination with chlorhexidine on the biofilm formation and nosocomial infections on ventilated patients. Plaque incidence was not different between groups at baseline and a few samples remained or became negative on day 5 in the treated group, but...
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