Breath fresheners and mouth washes just don't work for me. They work for maybe 10 minutes and then I get this sulfer-y taste in my mouth, especially after using Listerine. Research brought me to something usually used for first aid: Hydrogen Peroxide (3%).
What to mix:
Use whatever quantity you want but you need to cut it 50% with water. The first time I used it, I used half a cup of hydrogen peroxide and half a cup with water...it was WAAAY too much. Start here and then adjust your quantity based on how much you use (but always use equal parts water to Hydrogen Peroxide):
2 Tbsp 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
2 Tbsp Water
(I bought a gallon of Distilled water to try all my experiments out with but I am sure tap water would be fine as well)
YOU MUST MIX A FRESH BATCH EACH TIME! Hydrogen Peroxide breaks down quickly in the light (hence the dark bottle it is in) so each time you use it, quickly mix up a little batch.
What to do with the mix:
Two to Three Times a Day....
1-Gargle with the mixture. Get it all in the throat and around the whole mouth and all over the teeth.
***DO NOT SWALLOW!*** Gargle for as long as patience allows (I'm doing it for about a minute now but hope to build up to longer and longer times as time progresses) and then spit.
2- Take a toothbrush and brush your teeth with whatever is left over on your teeth.
3- Then, brush your tongue
4- Then, take a tongue scraper (found in any drugstore) and scrape your tongue as far back as possible, getting out as much of the icky stuff as possible.
5- I then take my regular toothpaste and brush my teeth. I haven't decided if this makes the process less effective or not. But, I like the tingly bubbly feeling in my mouth that I get when the toothpaste mixes with the hydrogen peroxide. I will keep experimenting.
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| I use the Orabrush (left) but any tongue scraper will work. |
I have been using it twice a day for 3 days now. My mouth definitely feels cleaner. It is not perfect. I still don't feel 100% confident all the time. But, it is SIGNIFICANTLY better. The posts say to swish it around my mouth for about 3-5 minutes but I haven't had the patience to do that.
BONUS:
My teeth are definitely whiter!
Tips:
A. DO NOT SWALLOW hydrogen peroxide!
B. Pretty much any drugstore brand of Hydrogen Peroxide will suffice...look on the back, it should say 3% hydrogen peroxide under active ingredients.
C. Don't pre-mix anything. The Hydrogen Peroxide will breakdown and not work.
D. Keep the Hydrogen Peroxide in its container, closed. Putting it in something that is not opaque will have the Hydrogen Peroxide breaking down and then it won't work.
I did try Therabreath oral rinse in the past but I only used it two or three times because the directions were so lengthy: http://www.therabreath.com/soc/use.aspx
So, I can't tell you if they worked or not. My goal is find cheap, easy and effective solutions.
I plan to keep exploring options but for now, I do like the Hydrogen Peroxide.
