Things You Need to Know about Bad Breath Mouthwash
Would you use a mouthwash if you knew it would make your teeth fall out?
Several years ago a clinical research team led by professors of dentistry at the Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital in Chennai, India conducted a test of three kinds of mouthwash. They were comparing survival rates of gum tissue exposed to three common mouthwashes: In the United States, almost no one still uses iodine as a mouthwash, but it’s very common in India (the third far more common outside the USA than within it):
- Listerine
- Chlorhexidine (a prescription mouthwash), and
- 1% iodine solution.
All three products were found to stop the growth of the fibroblasts that create new, healthy gum tissue. But which product do you suppose did the most harm to healthy tissue? The world’s best selling mouthwash, it turns out. Listerine.
The Listerine Story
The results of the study at the dental college in India really shouldn’t come as a surprise. Listerine was not originally designed for use as a mouthwash. It was originally designed as a detergent for cleaning operating rooms.
The famous English physician Joseph Lister, whose discoveries of ways to prevent post-surgical infections earned him a knighthood, mixed water, alcohol, and essences of eucalyptus and several other herbs to create the antiseptic that bears his name. He gave the mixture his name. In the 1880′s, when Lister’s fame was at its peak, Listerine took the medical world by storm. Every up-to-date surgeon started not only washing his (there were no female surgeons) hands between patients and ordered the cleaning lady (there were no cleaning men) to scrub down the operating room with Listerine.
By the beginning of the 1900′s other products became more popular for cleaning surgical theaters. Lister’s heirs found marketing geniuses who came up with other ways to continue making money off the product. About 110 years ago, Listerine was advertised as just the thing to be added to the mop water. It could remove grease and grime without stripping wax.
Then during the First World War, Listerine enjoyed a brief spate of popularity as a treatment for venereal disease for British soldiers returning home from France. That market peaked shortly after the war was over. Finally, in 1921, the makers of Listerine hit on the brilliant idea of selling Listerine as a treatment for “chronic halitosis.”
Before the Listerine advertising scheme, the term in the English language for bad breath was simply “bad breath.” But “chronic halitosis” sounded like something you would need a medicine to treat. Would you want to let chronic halitosis go untreated? Who knew what complications it could cause!
Dr. Lister had passed on, but he was still remembered for his ability to produce amazing advances in surgery—people no longer died because their surgeons did not wash hands before operating. So in just a few years annual sales of Listerine soared from $115,000 to the then-amazing sum of $8,000,000, and to hundreds of millions of dollars each year today.
So What’s Wrong With Listerine?
The problem with Listerine is that it is contains about 50-proof alcohol. Alcohol kills some kinds of bad breath bacteria at a concentration of just 7% and other kinds of bad breath bacteria at concentrations over 46%. In the original gold Listerine, alcohol is present in a concentration of 26.9%. Listerine indeed kills some of the bacteria that cause bad breath, but it also kills the tissues that keep your teeth in place. And since it leaves some of the bacteria that cause bad breath untouched, these strains can grow unchecked as Listerine provides them with more and more food by drying out your mouth.
The formulation of Listerine may not have been intended as marketing genius, but it has worked out to be marketing genius. The genius of Listerine is that you have to keep using it, because it keeps creating places for bad breath bacteria to flourish.
What About Other Brands?
Other chemical mouthwashes present other problems. The also-popular mouthwash Scope has a lower concentration of alcohol, so it does less damage to mouth tissue. Unfortunately, Scope also contains two dyes made of proven harmful chemical compounds. These are Blue 5 and Yellow 1. They cause unequivocal skin damage that aggravates hives and skin allergies, and several studies indicate that they may trigger attention deficit in both children and adults.
Oral-B contains chlorhexidine. This was one of the chemicals that the Indian scientists found to kill the fibroblasts that make collagen for gum tissue. Loss of collagen kills taste buds and the glands that secrete saliva. It makes you mouth dryer—so you will need more and more. Chlorhexidine is safe only for occasional use, up to about two weeks at a time. In the short term, it is great for getting rid of especially unpleasant bad breath odor, but used for more than two weeks it can interfere with your sense of taste.
Colgate mouthwash contains triclosan. This is a wonderful chemical for deodorizing sewage sludge, and it’s also the chemical used to make deodorizing trash bags. In the human mouth, however, it releases a nasty chemical known as dioxin, which is a potent nerve agent that can cause erectile dysfunction (particularly in men on South Asian descent). Mouthwashes containing triclosan were taken off the market in the UK out of concern that they could cause the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. There is also a potential chemical reaction between triclosan and tap water that can release chloroform gas.
Some other products are not quite as harmful to healthy tissue. The two-bottle system SmartMouth (advertised on American television by a spokesperson who has a “smart mouth”) creates a rinse that releases zinc ions. This zinc accumulates on receptor sites that bacteria use to absorb proteins that are especially rich in the sulfur-laden amino acids cysteine, cystine, and methionine.
When these receptor sites don’t work, bacteria can’t feed on the proteins in food particles or inside cracks in the mouth or tongue. They don’t later release the stinky compounds containing sulfur. SmartMouth keeps breath fresh for up to 12 hours at a time and is safe for children, although it will not mask bad breath caused by eating garlic, onions, or aged cheeses, and it will not mask the bad breath caused by tonsil stones.
Going Natural to Get Rid of Bad Breath
There are a few some products that are both natural and effective for people who have problems with halitosis. Sarakan is a mouthwash containing natural oils of peppermint, geranium, and cloves. If you also include tongue cleaning in your daily oral health routine, it’s exactly what you need to cure bad breath. The oil of cloves will also stop tooth pain and the peppermint oil will help settle your stomach. Sarakan not only helps with bad breath, it can also relieving bloating and burping.
Astring-O-Sol is based on herbal medicine that was well-known in the time of Jesus, who is said to have received a gift of its main ingredient, myrrh. (This is not to say the Baby Jesus had bad breath. Perhaps the Three Wise Men knew Mary, Joseph, and Jesus would soon take flight to Egypt, where onions were the main vegetable in the diet.) Myrrh provides a kind of protection that no other mouthwash offers. It “tans” the proteins in the lining of the mouth, gums, and tongue so that they do not form cracks that house bad-breath bacteria. Most people say that Astring-O-Sol tastes a little like root beer.
But You Don’t Necessarily Have to Buy Anything at All
Simply rinsing your mouth with water or any warm black, green, red, or white tea you brew at home is probably better than using a harsh chemical mouthwash like Listerine or Scope. Tea absorbs both of the major bad breath gases for up to two hours at a time. (Then you will need to drink more.)
But for getting rid of bad breath for good, focus on water. Keep your mouth moist. Rinse away food particles. Use oral irrigation to get food particles and bacteria out of the pockets between your gums and teeth. Sometimes brushing and oral irrigation are enough to get rid of bad breath for good. And about 75% of the time, a combination of brushing, oral irrigation, and tongue scraping (done gently) will bring bad breath under control in about a month.
