I should start by stating, you could make your own mouthwash. There are many recipes out there but it can be as easy as a shot of water and add a 1-2 drops of Young Living Essential Oils Peppermint and Lemon plus 2-3 drops of Thieves, option for a tiny pinch Celtic or Mediterranean sea salt and maybe some fractionated coconut oil if you have it, then gargle away!
Now, some ask about whether they should avoid Mouthwash with alcohol, and in my opinion, the answer is YES. Alcohol is one of those areas we definitely need to up our awareness, there are different variations of alcohol, some of which can be toxic (I’m citing some specific ones below). However, pure grain alcohol would be similar to the distillation for liquor and is not considered toxic in small doses. There are actually some Young Living products that may contain pure grain alcohol (it happens to help to create a nice mist like for the Thieves spray), but it is a miniscule amount. A lot of commercial products include more than we should probably intake (especially when you consider we may be using multiple products throughout the day); Listerine has up to 25% in some of their products!
So here’s some info on mouthwash and ingredients many brands generally include:
Isopropyl Alcohol: Implicated in mouth, tongue, and throat cancers. A colorless, volatile, flammable liquid produced by the fermentation of yeast and carbohydrates. Alcohol is used frequently as a solvent and is also found in cleaning agents, cosmetics and personal care products, perfumes and rubbing alcohol, beverages and medicine. As an ingredient in ingestible products, alcohol may cause body tissues to be more vulnerable to carcinogens. Mouthwashes with an alcohol content of 25% or more have been implicated in oral cancers. Poisoning symptoms include flushing, dizziness, depression, nausea, headaches, and coma. Rubbing alcohol baths or sponges used to soothe a fever can lead to acute poisoning through skin absorption or inhalation. Package warning suggest using protective gloves, and using a well-ventilated area.
Ethanol: more precisely its oxidation product acetaldehyde, is also believed to be carcinogenic.
The mouthwash, Listerine®, was compounded in 1879 from four essential oils. Later, the oils were replaced by one ingredient per oil with approximately 25% ethanol as a vehicle to keep them in solution. From then on, Listerine® was no longer a medicinal plant product. In 2003, a review by the FDA Subcommittee on Oral Health Care Drug Products for Over-the-Counter Human Use concluded that the product is effective and safe, and a review of studies published in the meantime showed that Listerine® fulfils the consensus criteria for an effective antigingivitis/antiplaque product. However, concerns have been raised about the long-term safety of some of the ingredients, particularly the ethanol content, and in the light of these concerns, the evidence has been re-examined for both the efficacy and safety of Listerine®. In summary, the studies support the claim that Listerine® shows benefit for oral health, but the concerns over its safety remain to be clarified. Until these have been addressed, high risk populations (children, alcohol addicts, patients with genetic deficiencies in ethanol metabolism) should use alcohol-free mouthwashes for the maintenance of oral health. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1002/ptr.4762
Here’s the Occupation Safety & Health Administration info on Isopropyl Alcohol
https://www.osha.gov/dts/sltc/methods/organic/org109/org109.html
Here’s some more data on Listerine specifically:
http://patientsville.com/medication/listerine_side_effects.htm#.VqvlHLIrK5g
http://naturaldentistry.us/68/listerine-not-worth-the-trouble/
General Article regarding most commercial mouthwash options:
http://www.naturalnews.com/025729.html
Being that I buy any and all my personal care products through Young Living., I am a BIG fan our Thieves Mouthwash.
In the event you haven't checked it out yet, you really, REALLY should. It happens to have colloidal silver in it. Here’s an article (no connection to YL) talking about all the nasty stuff that is killed off when using it. The YL mouthwash is VERY concentrated, I actually go 1:1 with water in my household. You could fill the cap half way with water, then pour the mouthwash into the remaining space of the cap for use. http://www.naturalnews.com/035275_colloidal_silver_mouthwash_infections.html