All natural? Tea tree? peppermint oil?
I recommend watching Dr Ellie Phillips on YT. Look her up. And binge for an hour. All your questions will be answered.
The first question is - what is the purpose of the mouthwash? Cavity prevention? Dealing with infections? Breath freshening?
For cavity prevention, I donāt think there is good evidence to support their use. You also shouldnāt use mouthwash after brushing. For example, before bed youāre better off brushing your teeth with fluoride toothpaste and then not rinsing. A lot of the antibacterial stuff (xylitol etc) is marketing gimmicks as far as I can figure out.
I use a mouthwash with chlorhexidine when I have any sort of infection, throat soreness etc. But you donāt want to use them for too long because they can stain your teeth.
Aside from that, I pick something nice and refreshing and sometimes quickly swill and gargle it to freshen my breath before a meeting or before chasing after my wife etc.
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Well, there is good evidence for xylitol, particularly xylitol gum. So, I use xylitol mouthwash as well because if Iām going to use mouthwash anyway, then why not xylitol mouthwash. But I also chew a lot of xylitol gum every day.
See this:
Hereās Why Rhonda Patrick Swears by Xylitol Gum - Brainflow
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Evidence for what though? The link doesnāt say anything substantial or scientific. It vaguely mentions cavity prevention. And as for gut microbiome, I think thatās just stabbing in the dark and we have no idea whether changing it is helpful or not. I think if you like the taste or the habit, thatās fine. But I wouldnāt consider it really doing much. To my knowledge, the mainstay of cavity prevention is regular brushing, interdental cleaning (brushes, floss), using fluoride, and visiting the dentist, plus avoiding prolonged exposure to destructive things like fizzy drinks and sugars.
But if you have some strong evidence about Xylitol then Iām very willing to look at it and change my mind, and even integrate it into my own lifestyle.
The mechanism is well-established: S. mutans transports xylitol into the cell via phosphoenolpyruvate phosphotransferase system, converting it to xylitol-5-phosphate which causes intracellular vacuoles and cell membrane degradation. The bacteria then expend energy expelling the dephosphorylated molecule with no energy gained. Essentially, xylitol starves the bacteria through a futile energy cycle.
Clinical evidence:
2015 Cochrane Review (gold standard): Over 2.5 to 3 years, fluoride toothpaste containing 10% xylitol reduced caries by 13% compared to fluoride-only toothpaste. The remaining evidence for other xylitol products was low to very low quality.
2022 Meta-Analysis (30 studies, 1966-2020): Both xylitol candies and chewing gum showed significant caries reduction from 35% to 60% in a 3-year RCT. The most effective protocol was 100% xylitol products consumed 3-5 times per day after meals, total dose 5-10g per day.
2024 European Archives Review: In ten evaluated xylitol chewing gum studies, xylitol consumption significantly reduced caries occurrence compared with no treatment or placebo. The effect was clinically significant in subjects with high or moderate baseline caries levels.
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Thanks for sharing. Some of the evidence seems mixed (like the first link is about toothpaste and says āThe remaining evidence for other xylitol products was low to very low quality.ā) But the other analyses do trend towards positive, which is good to know. I know Xylitol gum is super popular in Korea and Japan and is promoted for cavity reduction. Iāll try to find some 
I make my own mouthwash, 1 tsp of bicarb, salt, xylitol to 600ml of waterā¦ you can add more water if you need to. Add a few drops of peppermint oil if you wish. I use it several times a day.
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Bryan Johnson said he uses food grade tea tree oil on his tooth brush. I tried it: it cleared up the inflammation around an implant that nothing else had helped. So I keep brushing with tea tree oil at night, and regular toothpaste with flouride in the morning. Also chew xylitol gum.
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So I keep brushing with tea tree oil at night
How do you do that? Do you just put a few drops on the toothbrush?
Related to this, apparently you can also make a tea tree oil mouthwash by putting a few drops of tea tree oil in water. Iāve tried 2 drops per ounce of water, but that may not be the right mixture.
Iām the OG of not using conventional oral care productsā¦ I probably started using Toms of Maine 35 years ago.
All that is to say I was a very hard sell for the Dr Ellieās program which consists of old school oral care products used in a specific order. In fact, I HATE that Iām using this stuff, but no flossing and no plaque build up between my bottom center teeth shows her system is superiorā¦ drats!
Joseph Lavelle and @medaura each saw great results, so I thought Iād give it a go. My sister and husband are doing the same and they both quickly noticed they are not building up any plaque (just like Medaura)
Here is the description and a list of the EXACT products to use.
https://www.rapamycin.news/uploads/short-url/AoPiltzb2zAwFDPiOtvTDSo585q.pdf
The discussion:
Donāt heed @medauraās advice at your own peril
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Jay, yes, just a drop of food grade tea tree oil on the brush. That way I can focus on the areas that have been problematic in the past.
Oral exposure to tea tree oil can be toxic. Ten years ago, toothpicks dipped in tea tee oil were popular for oral hygiene, but then they were outlawed and taken off the market.
According to the Mayor Clinic, tea tree oil is toxic when taken by mouth. Serious side effects can occur, such as:
Confusion.
Ataxia.
Problems breathing.
High white blood cell count.
Coma.
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What is the effectiveness of using mouthwash VS flossing for preventing cavities ?
Hey Beth, I donāt think that list is too unconventional at all! My dentist told me not to brush after acidic foods is advised by dentists, and avoiding making a sugary/acidic environment has been traditional advice since I was a kid. The only bit Iām baffled by is why no flossing?
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The closys thatās part of the pre brush regimen is to neutralize the ph of the mouth (among other things) so you can safely brush after even if you just ate. Also your mouth may be acidic even if you didnāt just eat. The no flossing is because the flossing toothbrushes she recommends are already doing flossingās job of getting anything stuck, unstuck. Theyāre called interdental flossing toothbrushes and are not your average soft bristle wussy brush. Flossing with actual waxed thread on top of that would not only be redundant but too aggressive and beat down on gum tissue thatās trying to heal. It also drives any ongoing gingival infection deeper into the gums and possibly the blood stream. Also Listerine gets in between teeth and in gum pockets to modulate down pathogens and also heal gums (it contains diluted concentrations of eucalyptus oil and other essential oils that help heal gums, unlike using undiluted tea tree oil that will f them up). And then in the end to seal it all, the ACT. Youād really need to listen to the womanās whole rationale to be convinced. Thereās nuance all around, and thereās the concept of āmouth resting.ā Also the use of xylitol. It all works together to get you plaque free, and also to reverse any early cavities, and heal gum disease. It actually works, as Beth says. Iāve never not had plaque build up before and used to measure my success by how thoroughly I would get rid of it. Now thereās nothing to get rid of and when I go for a dental cleaning next I really donāt know what there is for them to clean.
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@relaxedmeatball what she said
I donāt think most of us fully believed the no flossing part (itās so ingrained in us!) so would still do it on occasion anyway just becasue she sounded crazy ā¦ but I have mostly stopped because I can see itās a waste of time. (I did go to the dentist recently and asked if he could tell I wasnāt flossingā¦ he said nope)
Btw, these are the super duper toothbrushes.
@relaxedmeatball if your kids are still small enough, there is also a small version. I actually use both for myself because Iām petite.
And brush your gumsā¦ below the teeth, not just where the teeth and gums meetā¦ I never knew to do thisā¦ it was amazing to discover I had a sensitive area that was cured by the massage in aprox 2 days!
Oh, and rotate through at least 2 toothbrushes because she says they donāt completely dry and kill the germs for 24 hours, so use one in the morning and the other one in the evening
Before I was willing to start her program, I did order the toothbrush and fell in loveā¦ I had not used a manual toothbrush since electric toothbrushes were inventedā¦ but I think this thing blows them away.
Oh, also donāt use a water pik. I had recently bought one and I was happy to hear I didnāt have to use that abusive violent thing ever again! PTSD
I think you should try it and report backā¦ for science!
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One of my problems and complaints is the plague of upselling dentists. This is the fairly routine practice of recommending unnecessary treatment. Iād say that as many as 20-30% of dentists are guilty.
And then there is the unrelated problem of dentists misinterpreting their own x-ray images. Iāve seen two dentists in the last six months and both used cone beam technology, which provides a shockingly detailed portrait of your teeth and jaw. However, like an MRI, it is can provide false positives and false negatives. One dentist told that me I needed three implants, at a cost of $9,000, while the other one said, no, I donāt need implants but rather, on different teeth, fillings and crowns for a mere $4,000.
I had planned to go to Mexico for the implants, but now I donāt know what to do. The worst flu in 20 years is also a factor in my reluctance to get on a plane.