IS ALCOHOL BASED MOUTHWASH BAD?
Back when I was in dental school one of my instructors was frequently seen gulping a big mouth full of mouthwash. He’d swish it around and then give it a thorough swallow. He got a good buzz from that every day. According to wiki.answers.com, commercially available mouthwash contains 6.6% to 26.9% alcohol depending on the brand. So, if you’re prone to alcohol or substance abuse or under care for that, you need a non-alcohol mouth rinse.
Alcohol also creates a problem in the mouth because it reduces the production of saliva and removes water from the tissues. Desiccating the mouth deprives the teeth and tissues of the fluid that keeps a normal balance of bacteria and fluids necessary for a healthy oral environment. Older patients are often already challenged with dry mouth because of medications or structural damage that may come with aging. From this standpoint it is much better to use non-alcohol mouth rinses.
WHAT NON-ALCOHOLIC MOUTHRINSE DO YOU RECOMMEND?
I have been using GUM AND TOOTH TONIC from the Dental Herb Company for many years. It has no alcohol. This product contains natural oils and herbal extracts that help promote healthy oral tissues.
There is a lot of data on the Internet suggesting a possible link between alcohol based mouthwash and some oral cancers. I think that habits of people who do things like smoke may be more prone to using an alcohol based mouthrinse, so the correlation is more with smokers than with the mouthrinse itself. However, there are enough good reasons to stay away from alcohol mouth rinses, especially when there are alternatives.