My Listerine mouthwash bottle directions says that for best results use twice a day after brushing. My toothpaste has 1450ppm fluoride, whereas the mouthwash is only 450ppm. Won’t using the mouthwash afterwards simply wash away the higher, more beneficial levels of toothpaste fluoride and replace it with lower mouthwash levels? What’s the reasoning for this advice?
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Mouthwash was invented to sell more disinfectant. Listerine was originally concocted to sterilize surgical devices and clean floors. The thought was if germs can cause disease, germs in your mouth were bad. So if you could disinfect your mouth, maybe you’d get sick less.
They added fluoride later when people were starting to figure out it wasn’t really doing much. I think part of why they don’t put so much fluoride in it is because people being people, some will buy alcohol-containing mouthwash and drink it to try to get drunk. Fluoride is not a great thing to be ingesting in large quantities. Most people don’t intentionally swallow toothpaste, and a small enough amount is used it’s OK to occasionally do so. Since people are intentionally swallowing mouthwash, the problems they’re having are only going to get worse if it’s loaded up with a high concentration of fluoride.
Whether it works or not seems to be in contention. *Of course* the mouthwash company says to use twice a day after brushing.
But right now the wisdom seems to be that the best thing for your teeth is to let them be for about 15 minutes after brushing. No rinse, no mouthwash. The act of brushing helps get plaque off your teeth, but also that means your slightly-damaged tooth enamel gets exposed. Letting the fluoride-rich paste sit on them for a little while seems to help protect them an extra little bit, and it seems like eating immediately after brushing can be pretty bad. In a very ELI5 way, it seems to take time for fluoride to “soak in” to teeth and if it doesn’t, not much enamel repair happens.
To that end, mouthwash is going to wash away that protection. It’s not *horrible*, because you’re still swishing fluoride around. But it doesn’t seem like it’s *as good* as just letting your teeth be for a while.
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