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Updated: Jun 11, 2026

Murine Oropharyngeal Aspiration Model of Ventilator-associated and Hospital-acquired Bacterial Pneumonia
Published on: June 28, 2018
Oral care and bacteremia risk in mechanically ventilated adults
Deborah J Jones1, Cindy L Munro, Mary Jo Grap
1University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. deborah.j.jones@uth.tmc.edu
Objective:
Transient bacteremia occurs in healthy populations from toothbrushing. With the high incidence of bacteremia in the intensive care unit and toothbrushing as an oral care method, this study examined the incidence and clinical significance of transient bacteremia from toothbrushing in mechanically ventilated adults.
Methods:
Prospective pre- and post-test with all subjects (N = 30) receiving a toothbrushing intervention twice per day (up to 48 hours). The planned microbial analysis used DNA typing to identify organisms from oral and blood cultures collected immediately before, 1 minute, and 30 minutes after the interventions.
Results:
Seventeen percent of subjects had oral cultures that were positive for selected pathogens before the first toothbrushing intervention. None of the subjects had evidence of transient bacteremia by positive quantitative blood cultures before or after the toothbrushing interventions. Patient characteristics were not statistically significant predictors for systemic inflammatory response syndrome, length of hospital stay, or length of intubation.
Conclusion:
The toothbrushing intervention did not induce transient bacteremia in this patient population.
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