Why is there alcohol in mouthwash? I always thought it was an antiseptic, but although my mouthwash is 20% alcohol (40 proof), it does not consider alcohol to be an active ingredient. Doesn’t the alcohol kill millions of germs on contact? If so, why is it not an active ingredient?
Funny, I was wondering about this myself last night.
Alcohol is antiseptic so that could be the reason it’s there, but it’s also more volatile than water; when it evaporates, it leaves your mouth feeling cool and fresh.
Listerine [supra] tm [/supra] contains 26.9% alcohol, and it is listed under “active ingredients.” BTW, it is the only mouthwash approved by the ADA, since it does contain alcohol in an active form. What mouthwash do you use, that contains only 20%
Thankfully not all mouthwash has alcohol. I work on a locked mental health unit, and we don’t allow regular mouthwash in the door, as some people abuse it for the alcohol content (esp. minors, as they can’t buy beer, but they CAN buy Listerine)
Actually, with Listerine, the alcohol content varies by flavor. Yellow Listerine does have 26.9% alcohol, but “Smooth Mint” Listerine has only ~8.6%. The kind I was talking about, with 20%, was the green kind.