Can toothpaste carry drugs to fight pulmonary infections?

Abstract

Toothpastes have been used as vehicles to deliver drugs in the oral cavity. Scientists delivered antibiotics to oral cavity through toothpastes and postulated that toothpastes may also be used to deliver antibiotics to tackle fatal lung diseases. Cystic fibrosis is a rare lung disease due to genetic disorder which results in excess mucus production in the lungs. This lung infection is treated with antibiotics which are given intravenously, inhaled, or given orally. Positive results have been reported with antibiotics in toothpastes, which can be extrapolated to deliver these for pulmonary diseases.

Keywords

• Antibiotics
• cystic fibrosis
• lung disease
• triclosan