LOS ANGELES (Reuters Health) - A chemical used to clear odors from municipal water supplies is the active ingredient in a new toothpaste that cures the bleeding gums of people with gum disease.

"It kills all bacteria within a minute, and all odors within a few minutes. It's one of the fastest odor neutralizers known," Dr. Howard Alliger of Frontier Pharmaceuticals in Farmingdale, New York, told Reuters Health. "It's phenomenal on gingivitis, curing it in a week if you brush twice a day."

Gingivitis, or gum disease, is caused by bacteria that live in the mouth. The active ingredient in the toothpaste, chlorine dioxide, kills the bacteria by breaking its cell wall. Humans don't have cell walls, Alliger pointed out.

In a presentation here Monday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, he said that laboratory tests showed that the toothpaste killed 99.999% of the microorganisms they tested, including yeast, bacteria, and viruses, within a minute.

The researchers then had people with gum disease brush their teeth with either their toothpaste or Colgate's Total and found that only their toothpaste stopped the bleeding caused by the gum disease.

The toothpaste is being marketed under the name DioxiBrite, which is only available on Frontier Pharmaceutical's web site (www.frontierpharm.com). "We're developers and researchers, but we don't sell it that well," Alliger admitted. "We're looking for someone to license it or sell it."

He added that they also have a mouthwash containing chlorine dioxide, and that the chemical also helps heal wounds and scratches, including acne and warts.