Mouth Rinses

The Food and Drug Administration classifies mouth rinses into two categories - therapeutic and cosmetic.

In general, therapeutic rinses with fluoride have been shown to actually fight cavities, plaque and gingivitis.

On the other hand, cosmetic rinses merely treat breath odor, reduce bacteria and/or remove food particles in the mouth. They do nothing to treat or prevent gingivitis.

People who have difficulty brushing (because of physical difficulties such as arthritis) can benefit from a good therapeutic mouth rinse.

Caution: Even rinses that are indicated to treat plaque or cavities are only moderately effective. In fact, regular rinsing with water and use of good quality fluoride toothpaste are just as or more effective.

In this office we use a mouth rinse called Smart Mouth. They use a patented Zinc ion technology that does more than cover up the bad breath. It actually destroys the bacterial bi-products that are the cause of the odor. It takes away these bi-products for about 8 to 12 hours.

You can purchase this product at Walgreens but we sell it at cost so it is less expensive at our office.