Hydrogen peroxide for mouth wash: Colgate Peroxyl

If using hydrogen peroxide for mouth wash was really so great, wouldn’t someone make a commercial mouthwash using it?

Apparently the answer is “yes”, and more than one company has done so. In some of the products, hydrogen peroxide is the main active ingredient, while in other products there are several active ingredients, and peroxide is just one of these.

Colgate Peroxyl Antiseptic Oral Cleanser is one of the type that use hydrogen peroxide as the main active ingredient. What’s more, Colgate says that peroxide is good for a number of kinds of irritations and sores – that is what this mouthwash is for.

Here is my page about using plain old hydrogen peroxide as a mouth wash and gargle, and here is Colgate's information about their product Peroxyl Antiseptic Oral Cleanser.

Does seeing a commercial product made from hydrogen peroxide make you more likely to think swishing your mouth with it is a good idea?

The product is interesting. Here are some things I noted:

• The mouthwash is is 1.5% hydrogen peroxide.
• It is recommended for canker sores, gum irritations, denture & mouth sores, orthodontic irritations, mouth burns, and cheek bites.
• They recommend using just a small amount, and swishing it for at least a full minute, up to 4 times a day.
• It is recommended for temporary use (but it doesn't say how long "temporary" is).
  

What’s in Colgate Peroxyl Mouthwash?

Hydrogen peroxide (1.5%) is the only active ingredient listed.

There are also a bunch of other inactive ingredients, including sweeteners and coloring.

For me, those are good reasons not to buy the product, but to use hydrogen peroxide. I’d rather not have the sweeteners and coloring. If you want to approximate the product, use 1.5% hydrogen peroxide.

But, I should mention, some people dislike the taste of peroxide, so maybe the sweeteners and such would have some redeeming value in that case.

The user comments about the product are very interesting.

Summary

Summary: Unless you really prefer the taste or presentation of the product to plain hydrogen peroxide, it seems easier to just use hydrogen peroxide for mouthwash, and dilute to whatever concentration you want from 1% to 3%. (If you want to match the concentration this product uses, use 1/2 3% hydrogen peroxide, and 1/2 water.)

But if you dislike the taste of hydrogen peroxide, it may be worth trying a product made with peroxide as the main ingredient or as one of several active ingredients.

Gardening: attach sprayer to garden hose; use to dilute peroxide and spray on the garden

Spray bottles for peroxide