Dentist says best mouthwash for bad breath is alcohol-free

Have you ever found that, after brushing and brushing and brushing, you can still detect a whiff of halitosis on your breath? If so, you may need to change the way you care for your mouth. According to MSN Health, this means drinking more water, cleansing your palate regularly and using the best mouthwash - that is, one that isn't made with alcohol.

Chronic bad breath can outlast brushing

If you use a standard, non-specialty toothpaste, you may note that your mouth odor stubbornly persists. What is at work here? According to the news source's team of oral health experts, it has to do with the parts of your mouth that you don't brush.

While you probably brush your teeth, gums and (hopefully) your tongue, it's unlikely that you brush your cheeks, the bottom of your tongue or the roof of your mouth. Why would you? After all, it would probably do little more than scrape up your delicate oral tissues.

But for this reason, odor-causing bacteria can live on in your mouth, and standard toothpastes don't neutralize them all that well. You could gargle an alcohol-based mouth rinse, but that would simply dry out your palate.

Instead, the best mouthwash for this situation is one that contains no alcohol at all.

Top-of-the-line mouthwashes

The most effective mouthwash is one that will eliminate bad breath and clean your palate without resorting to alcohol or synthetic chemicals. So, the optimal oral health regimen involves rinsing with a specialty breath freshening mouthwash twice a day, as one dentist told MSN Health.

And while you're at it, drink more water as a way to wet your mouth.

"A dry mouth breeds a more aggressive type of bacteria," one expert told the source. "If you can't brush after lunch, swish some water around your mouth or pop a piece of sugar-free mint gum to remove at least some of it from your teeth."

For the best effect, make sure it's a specialty breath freshening gum, one that oxidizes your palate and shoos away microbes.