A British surgeon spoke on his podcast and highlighted the dangers of using certain types of mouthwash.
Karan Rajan argued that a person should stay clear of this certain type of mouthwash due to it increasing a person's chance of developing a type of cancer
Speaking on his podcast, the British NHS worker went as far as to suggest people should avoid buying the mouthwash and think about alternatives.
He has also instructed people to read the labels beforehand rather than just buying any old product.
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He said: "People shouldn't be using alcoholic [mouthwash] if they don't need to. We are increasingly appreciating that we have an oral microbiome, and these can be affected by alcohol."
Explaining the science behind his reasoning, he noted how alcoholic mouthwash can negatively impact a person’s body both in the short term and long term.
He said that alcoholic mouthwashes disrupt a person’s mouth biome, and this can be crucial for a bunch of reasons.
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For example, he shared that lots of the 'good' bacteria in the mouth help defend your teeth and gums, freshen your breath and aid in the digestive process. Alcoholic mouthwashes regularly kill them off.
Unlike alcoholic drinks, the mouthwashes contain a higher concentration of alcohol and is exposed to your teeth and gums for a longer period of time.
Using mouthwash twice a day, swirling it around in our mouths means that a persons runs the risk of increasing the chances of serious health issues down the line.
Rajan continued: “Some early evidence suggesting that chronic mouthwash use has been linked, from a correlation point of view, to increasing rates of colorectal cancers because of that disrupted oral microbiome."
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As well as this, some of the other issues that can eventually arise from consistent use of alcohol-based mouthwash include burning mouth, mucosal pain, softening of composite filling material, teeth staining, enamel erosion and ulcers.
Also appearing on the podcast was Whitney DiFoggio, an American dental hygienist, who gave her two cents on using mouthwash in the first place.
She said: "You don't need a mouthwash. Manually brushing the plaque and debris from your teeth with a toothbrush with something to get between your teeth as well as [covering] the fronts, backs, tops and bottoms is what you need.”
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People are advised against using a mouthwash right after brushing their teeth as it can wash away the fluoride in the toothpaste that was just applied.
If you do take mouthwash, it is better to swill it after a meal, such as after lunch. Eating or drinking is also not advised till after 30 minutes.
Gerrard Kaonga