Homemade Mouthwash

There are many reasons to try your own homemade mouthwash: it’s much cheaper, you can select natural ingredients, you know exactly what’s in it, and you can adjust the ingredients until you have a taste you like and a product that doesn’t irritate your mouth. For some halitosis sufferers, a natural product like this can be part of an improved oral hygiene routine that may well help eliminate breath odors. At the least, an attempt to make your own rinse will cost you very little.

Recipes for natural mouth rinses typically call for aromatic herbs and plant extracts: strong-flavored plants such as mint, rosemary, anise, and fennel. Citrus is popular as well, and more exotic things are sometimes used such as tincture of myrrh, tea tree oil, and aloe vera gel. Homemade mouthwash based on these substances generally uses either water, or soda water as a liquid carrier. Simpler mixtures simply use baking soda or table salt dissolved in water. Glycerin may be used for its antibacterial properties.

It’s not really necessary to have a recipe for homemade mouthwash: you can easily devise your own using ingredients that are available to you. It’s generally advisable to avoid alcohol—as it is in commercial mouthwashes—because of the tendency of alcohol to dry oral tissues; however, alcohol is sometimes used to dissolve ingredients such as glycerin before they’re added to water. When natural mouth rinses are heated during preparation, no alcohol remains in the finished product.

The general rule for making homemade mouthwash with oils and essences is to use small amounts—a few drops in eight ounces of water usually suffices. Adjust mixtures and amounts to taste. If ingredients don’t readily mix, try alcohol and / or heat to hasten the process. Rinsing with natural mouth rinses is the same as with commercial products: swish the solution around in the mouth for about thirty seconds, making sure that the liquid contacts the surfaces between the teeth and all the corners and crevices in the mouth. Since your solution contains minimal amounts of substances that might be harmful, it’s okay to swallow – but use your best judgment based on what you have added. (It may not be a good idea to ingest too much of things like tea tree oil).

For a quick and versatile homemade mouthwash that you can take with you and use anywhere, mix eight ounces of water with a teaspoon of baking soda and add a drop or two of peppermint oil. Alternatively, rinse with unsweetened cranberry juice.