To bust canker sores, stick to SLS-free, alcohol-free mouthwash

It's one thing to have halitosis all by itself, and quite another to get bad breath and canker sores at the same time. These painful oral ulcers are just awful. They look bad, they smell bad and they feel terrible. But wait! Before you use your alcohol-based rinse on them, consider trying an SLS-free, alcohol-free mouthwash instead.

Not only can such a specialty product eliminate canker sores, but it will do so without making you scream in agony.

Studies prove it

Wouldn't you know it, there's a brand new report indicating that when alcohol-free mouthwash doesn't include SLS, a.k.a. sodium lauryl sulfate, it can clear up canker sores faster than the regular brands.

Published in the unappetizingly titled journal Oral Diseases, the study was based on an experiment in which 90 volunteers used alcohol-free mouthwashes either loaded with SLS or pleasantly free of it.

SLS, or sodium lauryl sulfate, is a detergent, similar to the kind you might use to clean your clothes. If putting a sudsy detergent on your canker sores sounds like a bad idea, that's because it is. Most oral health experts agree that SLS - a common ingredient in cheap mouthwashes - irritates the delicate tissues of the mouth, making canker sores more likely.

And the new report established that by getting SLS out of your breath fresheners, you can clear up painful sores faster.

And with fewer aches!

Researchers found that SLS-free rinses eliminated canker sores more quickly than those that contained the detergent. And there was a bonus: Participants using SLS-free products reported less mouth pain.

By gargling with a specialty mouthwash that uses no alcohol or SLS, you can be sure that your canker-sore-fighting routine will bring tears of joy, not of pain, to your eyes.