What kind of germs does listerine kill

While freshening your breath with mouthwash is a practice that dates back to the Romans, within the last years mouthwashes have focused less on freshening your breath and more on killing the bacteria that cause it. In fact, you have an estimated 75 to trillion different types of bacteria that live in and on your body—coexisting and helping you function.

These bacteria and other microorganisms make up what is known as the human microbiome. Some of these microorganisms are what cause plaque and bad breath. These organisms build up on the teeth, tongue and gums and can cause tooth decay and unpleasant odors. The use of antimicrobial mouth rinse during dental treatments such as endodontic treatment proved effective for more reliable infection control.

In Japan, there are an increasing number of elderly and medically compromised hosts who are potentially at risk for developing pneumonia due to silent aspiration of microbes in the oral cavity and throat. For the aged with such potential risk, using of antimicrobial mouth rinse may be effective in preventing dental plaque accumulation when used in addition to the mechanical control of plaque, since they tend to have difficulty in brushing teeth by themselves.

Indeed, the use of antimicrobial mouth rinse in these elderly people proved useful not only in preventing bacterial pneumonia, but also in improving their quality of life by preserving their oral health.

Well, a lot of us still follow that regimen. After all, mouthwash kills harmful bacteria in the mouth and leaves your breath smelling minty fresh… right? Not exactly. Since antibacterial mouthwashes can wipe out all of the good bacteria, the bad bacteria come back at a different rate, making the problem of bad breath even worse. Antibacterial mouthwashes can have even more adverse effects for some people due to their destruction of the oral microbiome.

The oral microbiome is an essential part of a healthy gut microbiome, so blasting bacteria in the mouth can have repercussions on your digestion and even cardiovascular health through disruption of nitric oxide production. If we think of the gastrointestinal tract as a river, then the mouth is the source of that river.

What you do in the mouth sets the stage for everything that comes after in the gastrointestinal tract and in the whole body.

The alcohol in most mouthwashes also dries out your mouth, which can make bad breath even worse , since saliva is what maintains a healthy pH in the mouth. The drying effects of mouthwash can even increase your risk of oral cancer, according to some studies. The best way to keep your mouth smelling fresh is to brush , floss , and scrape your tongue at least once a day — no mouthwash needed.

Check them out below. Here are a few products we like for their all-natural approach to making your mouth taste and smell a little bit sweeter:. Aesop Mouthwash. Oral Essentials.