Homemade Mouthwash – Freshens Breath and Prevents Cavities
Even with the best dental care and products, many people still suffer from bad breath and tooth decay. Bad breath can be embarrassing and tooth decay can lead to serious, painful and expensive dental procedures. But healthy teeth and fresh breath are easy to come by, if you combine a healthy diet and proper brushing with our homemade mouthwash.
In this post, I am going to show you how you can create a mouthwash that will get rid of bad breath and help prevent tooth decay. This effective mouthwash is inexpensive and easy to make using simple ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen.
Cavities, tooth decay and bad breath are caused by processed foods and drinks that contain high amounts of refined sugars. When you eat the microorganisms in your mouth convert the sugars into acids, which creates bad breath. The acids then begin to break down tooth enamel and over time this can lead to tooth decay. In order to prevent bad breath and tooth decay you have to neutralize the acids in your mouth after eating.
Commercially produced toothpastes and mouthwashes can help you control bad breath and prevent tooth decay, but those products are expensive and often contain unnatural dyes, preservatives and unnecessary ingredients.
Commercially produced toothpastes and mouthwashes typically cost $3 and up, as you have to pay for packaging that is bad for the environment and advertising. I like to make my own mouthwash because I know what’s in it, there is no disposable container to throw away and it costs just a fraction of the price of commercially produced products.
This recipe for homemade mouthwash will give you a strong foundation for healthy teeth and clean breath. Along the way you can reduce waste from unnecessary packaging, use a healthy natural product free from preservatives and dyes and save money.
How to Make Homemade Mouthwash
Ingredients:
- 500 ml / 2 cups of lukewarm distilled water
- 40 g / 1 ½ ounces of xylitol (birch sugar)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 10 drops of peppermint essential oil
- an empty glass bottle with screw cap
Place all the ingredients in the screw-top bottle, put the lid on and shake vigorously. After a few minutes all the ingredients will dissolve in the water – your homemade mouthwash is ready to use!
To use just take a sip and swish it around in your mouth for about a minute, then spit it out. You can use your mouthwash every morning, after brushing your teeth or anytime you want a clean fresh mouth. There is no need to rinse with water as that would remove the protective film of xylitol.
How this Homemade Mouthwash Works
- The baking soda neutralizes acid contained in the mouth and thus prevents erosion of the tooth enamel.
- Xylitol (birch sugar) prevents the development of cavities. Studies have shown that regular intake can even reduce existing cavities. The xylitol eliminates the causes of cavities and enables remineralization of tooth enamel. Unlike normal sugar, it can not be metabolized by the decay-causing bacteria. We also make toothpaste and cough drops with birch sugar. There are even chewing gums with Xylitol to improve the health of your teeth.
- When used regularly, it reduces the formation of plaque and tartar.
- With a few drops of peppermint oil, the mouthwash tastes pleasantly fresh and ensures good breath.
To ensure the best dental health you have to combine a healthy diet, with good dental care which includes regular brushing, flossing, using mouthwash and getting regular check-ups with your dentist.
If you like the mouthwash or you have tips or suggestions, please leave us a comment!
Can I use a good grade plastic jar?
Also what about mixing in colloidal silver instead of the alcohol? Also clove essential oil?
do you need to put the xylitol or is it necessary
How long will the mix last before it goes bad? Does it have to be refrigerated?
We use it for six to eight weeks without any problems. If you would like to make it last even longer, you could add about 12-15 percent ethanol (“Weingeist”). That would stop bacterial growth entirely and would add some more antibacterial effect to the solution when used as a mouthwash.
How long this can be stored and used? Does this requires refrigeration?
It can be stored for 1 to 2 weeks without refrigeration. Storing it in the fridge will extend that time to about 3-4 weeks. It is also possible to add 50 ml drinking alcohol (e.g. wodka) so it will stay in good condition even longer.
I have Sjogren’s which causes dry mouth so my dental hygienist recommended making a xylitol wash with lemon oil or lemon rind to stimulate the production of saliva
I’d like to make my own mouth rinse with dipotassium oxalate monohydrate. This is pretty much the same substance that lives in leafy greens like spinach, and it can actually bind to certain nutrients to make it harder for you to absorb them. (So, yeah, as it turns out, spinach is not entirely good for you.) Anyway, my dentist recently told me to get Listerine Zero Sensitivity mouth rinse because the roots of some of my teeth have become exposed over the years, leaving the nerves much closer to the surface and me and my teeth hypersensitive to cold and sweet foods, mostly. The way in which he explained this chemical compound works is that it fills the little spaces, or “porosities”, in my teeth, gradually providing a kind of temporary fill-in “filling” for the places where my enamel is absent or eroding away.
So I bought the mouth rinse and started using it, only to discover it has all kinds of artificial sweeteners in it, all of which my gut reacts to. I know it’s a mouth rinse, and thus it’s not meant to be swallowed–and I do not swallow it–but it still somehow seems to bother my very sensitive stomach. The bottom line is that I’ve had gut problems for most of my life, and I will do whatever I must to avoid suffering from the symptoms that are brought on by the chemicals, ingredients and sugars/sweeteners that bother me.
This is all my very long-winded way of asking: Can you tell me, if I were to purchase the pure potassium oxalate in powder form, in what ratio I would need to mix it with water to make it safe to use as a mouth rinse?
Thank you in advance to anyone who can help me answer this question!
All my best,
Carlos JP
Oops, the Listerine mouth rinse product to which I referred in my previous comment is actually Sensitivity Zero (not the other way around).
Can I substitute coconut oil for the peppermint or add coconut oil with it as well?
Dear Mike Geoff,
we haven’t tried it yet, but it should work out well. If you just don’t like the peppermint flavor, simply leave the peppermint oil away, it’s not essential in this recipe.
Best wishes, Annette
can peppermint extract be used i just don’t have the oil yet and i was wanting to make it now?
I guess that’s possible, but we haven’t tried yet. The other option is to just leave the peppermint oil away. The solution still works without but just doesn’t taste as good 😉
Good day, if want to extend shelf life of the mouth wash like six months or a year and I did not like alcoholic, what others materials can I used to replace alcohol on it.
Hi, is there any antibacterial benefit to using peppermint? I am not a big fan and would like to substitute a citrus oil, instead?
It has a slight antibacterial effect, but the main benefit of peppermint oil is the taste in this recipe. Peppermint oil is one of very few that are recommended to be used not only externally, but also internally (inside the mouth). That’s why we do not recommend using other etherical oils in this recipe.
I agree with most of what is said here except the advice to floss. There is growing evidence that flossing is harmful and various health bodies are removing it from their advice on good dental care.
Hi Djm, could you expand on this with links to your sources?