Mouthwash. You might use it yourself or recommend it to patients. Certainly its use is widespread. But did you know that people have been rinsing their mouths with all sorts of wonderful and sometimes downright disgusting liquids for centuries?
Hippocrates was said to favour a solution of salt, aluminium sulphate and vinegar. The ancient Romans used Portuguese urine - they thought that the ammonia would disinfect and whiten teeth. And in the 16th century, mint and vinegar was all the rage.
Now, it would be fair to say that there remains some controversy about mouthwash use to this day. Do they really work? Are there any downsides?
So here to unpack some of these questions for us today is our guest Michael McCullough, Professor of Oral Medicine at the Melbourne Dental School.
Michael has just co-edited a special supplement on mouthwashes in the International Dental Journal, which forms the basis of the discussion for this episode. The articles are all free and open-access if you want some further reading.
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Mouthwash