We are all well aware of the long term additive ill effects of alcohol on our body and tissues. Some people fail to realize that their favorite mouth rinse has or may have a large amount of alcohol contained in it (17-21%). Rinsing for one minute twice a day with an alcohol containing mouthrinse exposes you to the same harmful effects that "having a few" at the local pub does.
The intense burning feeling you get when you spit out the rinse is a result of the alcohol drying out the mucous membranes of your mouth. If you are a smoker and use alcohol containing mouthrinses the alcohol inreases the carcinogenicity of the chemicals in the tobacco tenfold.
Previous oral cancer patients should select mouthrinses that contain no alchol especially if they had radiation therapy that affected the salivary glands. A common question I get from my patients is what will keep my breath fresh and kill the bacteria if there is no alcohol. The answer is the chloride ion (salt). There will be no burning after you spit it out and in actual fact it will lubricate the mouth and reduce bacterial counts just as effectively as alcohol containing products.
Non alcohol containing mouthrinses are readily available at your local pharmacy.

Hope this is useful to you,

Burning is bad!!
Cheers
Mike

Biotene is a good one too !

Shar: Good to see you posting!

Dr. Mike: Thanks for the useful tip! We'll keep that in mind for future reference.

The Biotene products that we received have truly been a Godsend! We are so grateful for all of them. And particularly, the alcohol-free mouthwash has certainly proven to be effective and painless for Buzz....

Good post. Thanks.

Dr. Mike....welcome, and thanks for your generosity in posting here.

I have been seeking some clarification of the mouthwash issue. You have made it clear, and I appreciate it.

Here is another question, not of interest to many others here: I wear an obturator after my partial maxillectomy/palatectomy. I soak it in mouthwash overnight, and I rinse it in the morning. It still sometimes burns for a while when I re-insert it. I presume that I should switch to a non-alcoholic soak also...?? I am concerned about freshness.

And for those of us (me) for whom Biotene mouthwash inexplicably burns like a match, a salt water rinse works very well.

Joanna
it still burns?
I only had about 3 weeks where the biotene wash caused trouble. At that point soda/salt still worked. On the other hand the magic mouthwash burned like hell and is to this day uncomfortable even though I eat almost normally. Magic indeed!!

Markus

Hi,
August: you are right no alcohol for your obturator. Here is a solution that is quite effective for freshness and cleansing. Get a one litre container fill 3/4 full with water (tap water will do but if you want to feel upper crust you can use evian.),add 1/2 teaspoon of table salt (bacteria gone), add 1 tablespoon of baking soda (lubrication and refreshes), 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (freshness). Keep in fridge until you need it and you have a hardy supply on hand.

Joanna you are correct and age old very effective remedy but not too much salt you only need 1/2 teaspoon in 1 litre of water which equals a 0.9% solution and that is all that is needed. People with high blood pressure etc. should limit salt intake and the direct absorption to the blood stream is a reason to stick to the above recipe.

Cheers
Mike

Hi again,

Did anyone realize that evian spelt backwords is NAIVE.
Just a little haha for you to ponder.
Cheers,
Mike