## 1 Introduction  
Most oral diseases are of infectious origin. Periodontal infections, dental caries, jawbone osteomyelitis and osteoneogenesis, and mucosal fungal infections like thrush are all caused by microorganisms forming persistent and hard-to-eradicate structures referred to as biofilms [1]. One of the key features of biofilm organisms is their ability to colonize soft and hard tissues [2; 3], and to spread throughout the host, changing the status of the infection from localized to a more generalized one in susceptible hosts. Therefore, untreated, aggressive oral infections can lead to life-threatening infection and inflammation in virtually any body organ, including the brain, heart, and skeleton, to name a few [4; 5; 6]. Another key feature of biofilm infections is the high tolerance to antibiotics and antiseptics [7]. Microorganisms, such as _Enterococcus faecalis_, _Staphylococcus aureus_, _Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitants_, _Pseudomonas aeruginosa_, _Streptococcus mutans_, and _Candida albicans_, are not only well-recognized biofilm-formers and important pathogens in oral cavity infections [8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13], but they are also associated with high levels of intrinsic and acquired resistance to antimicrobials [14; 15]. Due to antibiotic inefficiency in the context of persistent biofilm infections, the remaining therapeutic option is the local application of antiseptic agents, which display strong, unspecific mechanisms of antimicrobial and antibiofilm action [16]. The antiseptics broadly used against bacterial biofilms are, among others, povidence-iodine, polihexanide, and chlorhexidine [17; 18; 19]. However, the latter one, due to a quickly growing bulk of evidence indicating increasing microbial cross-resistance following application [20; 21; 22], is being substituted with other antiseptic substances. In turn, povidence-iodine (PVP-I) displays strong antimicrobial and anti-biofilm activity and it is widely used in oral mouthwashes. However, it has a poor taste and flavor, and can interfere with the regeneration of epidermal cells and granulation tissues [23]; moreover, if it is used in abundance, it may penetrate through wounds to blood and accumulate in the thyroid gland. Therefore, other antiseptics are presently applied as an alternative for PVP-iodine; polihexanidine is one of the most promising among them [24]. Regarding the specificity of the oral cavity environment, eradication of biofilm-forming microbes is a challenge, not only because of biofilm persistence and species-specific resistance to antibiotics, but tongue movements and the ongoing production of saliva decreases the active concentrations of liquid antimicrobials and sprays, while elasticity and mucosity of the oral cavity membranes leads to loss of antimicrobial hydrogels from the infection site. Therefore, despite the high in vitro antibiofilm efficacy of various forms of antiseptics, oral infections remain a hard-to-solve health issue. The aforementioned factors indicate the importance and necessity of using an appropriate carrier containing antimicrobial substances for the delivery to sites of infection in the oral cavity. Such a carrier should be able to provide a high local concentration of an antimicrobial agent at the infection site, display high elasticity, resistance to rending, and the ability to adhere to mucosa and teeth [25]. Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a polymer that can address these challenges. This multifunctional biomaterial is synthesized by a plethora of so-called acetic acid bacteria, of which _Komagataebacter xylinus_ is recognized as a model cellulose-producer. BC displays a high elasticity, the ability to absorb and release high volumes of antimicrobial compounds, a lack of cytotoxicity, and a resistance to shear stresses [26]. The process of BC fabrication consists of relatively cost-effective stages of bacterial cell removal by means of alkalization and subsequent rinsing in order to stabilize pH, in addition to washing off bacterial and medium leftovers or debris [27].