Chlorine dioxide is used in drinking water to control tastes and odors associated with algae and decaying vegetation. It can inactivate the fungal spores in groundwater by the damaging of the cell wall and cell membrane in fungal spores, causing the leakage of intracellular substances and death of a fungal spore. Chlorine dioxide aids in relieving pain after wisdom tooth removal and enhances the healing process following oral surgical procedures. It was shown, that the stabilized chlorine dioxide paste-rinse combination could have greater efficacy than the phenol related rinse regimen.