What is hydrogen peroxide used for when it's in the form of a mouth rinse?

Question

I saw a mouth wash product w/ hydrogen peroxide in it. I thought it was dangerous to use in your mouth because it destroys gum tissue.

Answer 1

In a weak solution Hydrogen peroxide won't harm you, but full strength it might "burn" new cells off from inside your mouth. Never use it full strength. It is a germ killer.

Answer 2

Did this to my mouth and it took 2 years for the irritation to go away after stopping the rinsing. My stupid dentist recommended a hydrogen peroxide & herbal rinse. Dentist denied that was the cause and thought it may be psychological. That's how most doctors defer liability these days unless they maime you. The mouth is unique in that it can burn and still look healthy and normal. It still gets irritated once in a while if I eat something that has alot of processed ingredients. It's called burning mouth syndrome and it sucks hard. Worst thing I've ever had to go through. It even effects the throat too. good luck...

Answer 3

Some dentists recommend using hydrogen peroxide as a mouth rinse, but others say to stay away from it all costs because of potential health hazards, including mutagenity. In searching through a number of toxicology, chemical, and medical texts, its difficult to determine the reason that a dentist was so adamant that you not use hydrogen peroxide because of its mutagenic potential.

Most often hydrogen peroxide that can be purchased at a drugstore has a concentration of 3% in water. 100% hydrogen peroxide is not available to the general public

Hydrogen peroxide is also affected by the action of swishing, as in a mouthwash, and by simply coming into contact with surfaces, such as your teeth. What this means is that once hydrogen peroxide goes into your mouth, the conditions are very good for it to react rapidly to degrade to water and oxygen. In fact, the bubbles that you feel in your mouth are oxygen bubbles that are moving through the water so they can escape into the air, much like the carbonation in soda pop. In other words, once hydrogen peroxide has been removed from the bottle, it doesn't remain hydrogen peroxide very long. In the event that you may accidentally swallow a small amount of the hydrogen peroxide, the heat in your body and acid in your stomach should cause it to react before it can be absorbed by your body

Finally, the last issue to be addressed is the fact that your mouth does not come in direct contact with hydrogen peroxide for a short period of time before it degrades to water and oxygen. In the chapter on disinfectants and antiseptics in Basic & Clinical Pharmacology (Lange, 1984), it notes that hydrogen peroxide does not penetrate tissue, even when used on open wounds, cuts or sores. Tissue penetration is required for an effect to take place at a cellular level. Without tissue penetration, a mutation can't occur.

Answer 4

It's used in a very diluted form to oxidise the smelly waste products of bacteria, suplhides into suplhates. Suplhides are the chemicals which cause the bad breath smell.

If you drank 100% Hydrogen peroxide it would be quite dangerous . However in mouthwash it is diluted to very low levels and is quite harmless. It is quite unstable and breaks down very quickly in the mouth to form water and oxygen, this is helped along by swishing the rinse around your mouth. Even if you swallowed a small quantity by accident it would have degraded to water and O2 before it reached your stomach.

In terms of damaging your gums, the peroxide is only around for a short time before it becomes water and Oxygen, meaning the actual concentrations in your mouth are so low that there is no risk to your gums.

I think the reference to gum damage is more applicable to DIY bleaching kits which contain more concentrated peroxide as they are used to make stained teeth white again.

Answer 5

You shouldn't never use anything with hydrogen peroxide if you have had oral surgery. It will destroy new tissue growth. If you have a healthy mouth and the rinse contains a little bit of HP, that's fine. But warm salt water rinses are even better and so cheap.

Answer 6

not if you dilute it with water and don't swallow it. some people combine baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and a little water to brush their teeth with. you have to be careful though as baking soda can be a little rough on the gums.

Answer 7

It doesn't destroy gum tissue. It boils and cleans any possibility of infection in the teeth and gums.....just as it would an open wound or cut.

Answer 8

It's used as an antiseptic to heal wounds in the mouth,for teeth whitening ,and also to fight bad breath.Apparently,there seems to be some disagreement among dentists as to its safety.
http://www.ehso.com/ehshome/MedicalH2O2.htm
http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/46226

Answer 9

To kill bacteria, It can also be mixed with baking soda to brighten teeth.

Answer 10

It actually helps to whiten teeth.