Whitening Mouthwashes

There are many teeth whitening products available to one who wishes to whiten his or her teeth, each with different complexities. Perhaps the simplest whitening product, other than a whitening toothpaste, are whitening mouthwashes. The most common brands of whitening mouthwashes are Listerine and Crest.

How to use whitening mouthwash

Whitening mouthwashes are pre-brush rinses; you must use them before regular brushing. Most are required to be used twice a day. They are not abrasive; they contain the bleaching agent hydrogen peroxide. Users must swish vigorously for a full minute before spitting the rinse out.

Effectiveness

Whitening mouthwashes have limited effectiveness; they are useful for maintaining whiteness at best, and even that is arguable. Hydrogen peroxide, a very effective whitening chemical, requires more than one minute of exposure to have any significant effect.

Whitening mouthwashes only require a user to expose his or teeth to the hydrogen peroxide for one minute, and remember that this is maximum. It is very unlikely that all parts of your teeth will be exposed to the peroxide the entire minute, because he or she will be swishing the liquid all over the mouth.

Users of whitening mouthwashes consider them to have a pleasant taste; the taste is certainly more enjoyable than any of the other teeth whitening products.

Regular fluoride mouthwashes are good to use after using a whitening mouthwash and brushing. Some say that it is unwise to use fluoride mouthwashes containing alcohol, as this can have some detrimental effect to the sensitive enamel, causing it to stain. This is very arguable, and many disagree with it.

I personally have experienced no detrimental effects from using alcohol containing fluoride mouthwashes.

A special word of caution must be given to users who are also undergoing other teeth whitening treatments – the hydrogen peroxide in the whitening mouthwashes may “push you over the edge” to a point where your mouth has simply had too much peroxide and cause sensitivity. This does not happen to most people, but it can happen to some. Cases are higher with those using the stronger teeth whitening products such as laser teeth whitening, Crest Whitestrips Supreme, Crest Whitestrips Advanced Seal, and Crest Whitestrips Pro Effects. Whitestrip users are at a higher risk than those undergoing laser teeth whitening treatment, because the strips sit for such a long period of time on the teeth.

So the bottom line is this – whitening mouthwashes are not recommended, because they have little to no effectiveness and are quite expensive.