mouthwash tastes really strong. so strong, in fact, that occasionally i fear that it will desensitize my taste buds. this seems like just the sort of thing people would ignore because of a lack of information and then 50 years down the road we all have no tongues, or something. thoughts?
If you’re so concerned, dilute it with water before you use it. What is your factual question here?
Listerine’s been around for more than 50 years, and people still have tongues. I also am not exactly sure what the question is.
I used to feel the same way about Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray soda pop.
It almost seems like carbonated Listerine. But then I like Listerine.
IIRC your taste buds are constantly regenerating. Kill them and they’ll make more.
Where’s my habanero sauce? Time for some mass murder!
I started a thread here where we discussed alchohol in mouthwash. You may want to switch to Crest mouthwash, which is non-alcoholic and doesn’t have the “sting” of Listerine. Crest apparently figured out how to formulate an oral rinse that works without alcohol. Whether it is better to use an alcohol vrs non-alcohol mouthwash is debatable. But I have been using the Crest Pro-Health Rinse and you should try it out. It doesn’t have the burn as they have advertised and it seems to be mild.
Listerine puts a number on its bottle for questions you might have:
800-223-0182 Call weekdays between 9am and 5pm EST.
Some suggested questions (in addition to whatever you have in mind).
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On the label, the mfr tell us not to swallow the Listerine. Why? (I think most all the mouthwash makers say the same thing. Maybe it’s the alcohol.)
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Are there carcinogens in Listerine? If I’m not mistaken, in one of the threads here (that I’m too lazy to check) some Doper said there are carcinogens at least in some mouth washes.
Listerine puts a number on its bottle for questions you might have:
800-223-0182 Call weekdays between 9am and 5pm EST.
Some suggested questions (in addition to whatever you have in mind).
-
On the label, the mfr tells us not to swallow Listerine. Why? (I think most all the mouthwash makers say the same thing.)
-
Are there carcinogens in Listerine? If I’m not mistaken, in one of the threads here (that I’m too lazy to check) some Doper said there are carcinogens at least in some mouth washes.
It is the alcohol–or more accurately, it’s what is IN the alcohol. Products containing ethyl alcohol not intended for consumption use denatured alcohol; specifically SD or specially denatured alcohol. SD alcohol formulations contain additives that make it usuitable for consumption while remaining relatively non-toxic. Nevertheless, SD formulations can make you ill or cause gastric distrubances you could probably do without. At the very least, they are designed to tase so bad that no reasonable person would WANT to drink them. You probably won’t die from drinking a bottle of Listerine, but you may very well wish you had.
Other types of denatured alcohol DO contain chemicals which render it toxic, but these are not used in products intended for oral or topical use for humans. You’ll find these types of denatured alcohols in things like cleaning products.