Effect of sodium bicarbonate mouthwash in preventing the incidence and severity of oral mucositis in patients undergoing chemotherapy

Oral mucosa is one of the most debilitating complications of chemotherapy during the treatment period, which strongly affects the nutritional status of these patients. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of sodium bicarbonate mouthwash on the prevention, incidence, and severity of oral mucosa in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in one oncology clinic affiliated to the University of Medical Sciences in western Iran from April 2019 to June 2020.

The present study was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design. In this study, patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy were allocated to the intervention and control groups by the random block method. Patients in the intervention group mixed two times every 8 hours and 7.5 ccs of sodium bicarbonate mouthwash each time. The Scales were completed for patients.

Findings showed that sodium bicarbonate mouthwash has been able to prevent the incidence of oral mucositis or reduce its severity of oral mucositis in patients undergoing chemotherapy that had no symptoms of oral mucositis at the beginning of the study. Therefore, there is not statistically significant difference in the objective evaluation score (F=4.21, P=0.74) and the subjective evaluation score (F=3.67, P=0.61) during the study in the sodium bicarbonate group. However, there was a statistically significant difference in the severity of oral mucositis in the objective and subjective assessment between the sodium bicarbonate group and placebo on follow-up days (P=0.01).

Sodium bicarbonate mouthwash maintains and promotes oral health by preventing the incidence and severity of oral mucositis in patients undergoing chemotherapy for three weeks. Therefore, the recommendation is to use sodium bicarbonate mouthwash as a therapeutic care measure in clinical settings at the beginning of chemotherapy for these patients.