Hata R, Noguchi S, Kawanami T, et al. - In this prospective study, researchers explored the connection between poor oral hygiene and increase in obligate anaerobes in the lungs of pneumonia patients. Study participants included 39 patients with pneumonia in whom bronchoscopic examination and oral hygiene assessment were performed utilizing oral hygiene index (OHI), tongue coating score, oral dryness, and community periodontal index of treatment needs (CPITN). Increased oral dryness, OHI, and CPITN, but not the tongue coating score, was significantly linked to higher detection rates of obligate anaerobes. However, no significant relations were observed between the detection of oral streptococci in the lungs and each oral hygiene assessment. In patients with total oral hygiene score of ≥ 5, a significantly higher number of obligate anaerobes were detected in the lungs. In the lungs of patients with pneumonia, poor oral hygiene was thus related to increased obligate anaerobes.