OK I admit it right off, I was stupid because I didn’t read the lable.
About 2 years ago, my dentist said that I should gargle with hydrogen peroxide because my gums bled.
So I did and it’s really helped my gums. However last night I just got around to reading the lable on the bottles (yes I know it was dumb not to do that first) and it says to use hydrogen peroxide as a gargle you need to put an equal amout of water to an equal part of hydrogen peroxide.
I have been just putting a bit in my dixie cup and gargling with it full strenght and spitting it out.
I’m assuming since I have done this for almost two years it isn’t fatal, but is there any damage I could have done. I have search the Wikipedia and sites and get some weird sites. A couple sites even said you could drink it.
So what is the straight dope and is there any harm I could’ve done to myself? I went to my dentist six months ago and he said my teeth were OK.
I am not a dentist or a chemist, but the hydrogen peroxide you buy at the drugstore is almost certainly not 100% H2O2. I’ve gotten 20% (IIRC) on my fingers and it left a nasty chemical “burn” not to mention the fumes it gave off. At the low concentrations in the over the counter stuff, I doubt it makes much difference whether you dilute it by half. If you still use the same dentist, why not call and find out what he thinks? Which brings up another question: do medical types charge to answer questions by phone?
I saw a hydrogen peroxide spill once. (IIRC, it was something like 50%) You probably wouldn’t have anything left. In its concentrated form, that stuff is insanely active, and when its oxygen is liberated, things can spontaneously combust. :eek:
Drinking it should make you throw up - it is standard procedure if you need to get a dog to barf quickly. Since vets recommend it, I wouldn’t worry about it.
To quote an earlier post of mine from two years ago:
re. hydrogen peroxide – may be chemically neutral, as Squink said (I had no idea, one way or the other), but FTR the chemical in industrial-strength solutions is powerfully corrosive, and even explosive, with a reputation for eating away most of the substances (including many metals) that might normally be used to contain it. Hydrogen peroxide at 85% strength makes a very potent, if chemically unstable, propellant for things like torpedoes. (At that level of purity it’s called HTP, or high-test peroxide.) It was the spontaneous detonation of one such torpedo which sank the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk five years ago…
To add to the above, hydrogen peroxide at HTP-level strength (in the range of 85%) explodes on contact with water. The nuclear sub Kursk blew up when a crack in one of its “fat girl” (and HTP-fueled) torpedoes spontaneously detonated, due to a crack either letting some water in to contact HTP in the torpedo, or that same crack letting some of the HTP out, to make contact with water elsewhere (like on the floor). Not even the Russkies use a 100% pure solution – perhaps because of the limited options of materials that can contain it at that strength. The British phased out HTP as torpedo fuel in the 1950’s, IIRC, and the Americans in the '60’s, both after having lost vessels to similar catastrophes.
We use highly concentrated (80-99% purity) hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizer with kerosene (ignitable) and hydrazine (spontaneous combustion). From Rocket Propulsion Elements, 7th Ed:*Even under favorable conditions H[sub]2[/sub]O[sub]2[/sub] will often decompose at a slow rate during storage, about one percent per year for 95%, and gas will bubble out of the liquid. Contaminated liquid peroxide must be disposed of before it reaches a danger point of about 448K, when an explosion usually occurs. Concentrated peroxide causes severe burns when in contact with human skin and may ignite and cause fires when in contact with wood, oils, and many other organic materials. In the past rocket engines with hydrogen peroxide oxidizer have been used for aircraft boost (German Me 164, and U.S. F-104) and a missile (Britain: Black Knight). It has not been used for a long time, partial because of its long-term storage stability. However, there has been some improvement and some renewed interest in this dense oxidizer, which produces a nontoxic exhaust.*Concentrated commercial peroxide is ~30% concentrated, and can be hazardous enough (i.e. a cotton rag soaked in it an left out in the sun for about half an hour will spontaneously combust). The 3% solution sold for medicinal purposes isn’t especially hazardous, but I wouldn’t go slugging it down with breakfest.
3%, no problem. There isn’t much difference between 3% and 1.5%, really. In Spain, 3% solutions indicate that they “can be used undiluted for gargling; should be diluted for children.”
If it had been 30% you wouldn’t have done the same mistake twice: it hurts enough that you would probably not have been able to damage yourself badly unless you’re a very radical masochist.
One of my friends was told by his dentist to gargle with peroxide so my friend did. He said it was extremely painful and felt like burning. [Ralph Wiggum] “It tastes like burning!”[/Ralph Wiggum]
When he told this to his dentist the guy said to water it down as some people are sensitive to it. My vet also said when cleaning a dog or cat’s wounds with peroxide to water it down 50% for the same reason.
Doesn’t peroxide work by sort of eating or dissolving bacteria and as a by product breaks down the skin tissue?
Peroxide works by oxidizing things. This is good when it oxidizes bacteria and whatnot in your mouth, but it also oxidizes your mouth. I’ve heard of studies somewhat recently that suggest that it’s less than ideal as a wound cleanser for this reason. The irritation to the tissues in the wound outweighs the benefit of having killed the bacteria.
If the OP is worried about long term damage and proper dilution there are plenty of commercially available mouthwashes and toothpastes that contain peroxide that may be safer. (IANADoctor/dentist, just a chemist who has had the pleasure of using 30% peroxide and has great respect for strong oxidizers)
I have always had bleeding gums, for some reason, some huge techinical name my dentist told me. But within a month of gargling with the hydrogen peroxide the bleeding stopped.
It also cheap compared to listerine and other mouthwashes. So I am satisfied with it. I’ll just dilute it from now on.
I see hydrogen peroxide as an ingrediant in teeth whiteners but my gargle did nothing for that, so I guess you’d have to use a stronger strenght or leave the hydrogen peroxide in your mouth for a long while to whiten them any. (Big coffee drinker here )
The teeth whiteners are strong, but info I found lists the over the counter ones as no more than 6% H2O2 - they’re usually accompanied by warnings regarding frequency of use and to avoid getting the gel on your gums. Teeth are stronger than gum tissue when it comes to oxidizers. Also they’re left on longer than one would gargle.
I have seen whitening washes advertised, but I am skeptical as to whether they’d make a noticable difference.
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