Oral rinse for good oral health

Improving oral health through oral care products like mouthwash (oral rinse), throat gargle and toothpaste improves overall quality of life and happiness.

- Sunil S Chiplunkar

The ‘oral rinse’ formulation is commonly known as a ‘mouthwash’. This liquid preparation is essential for oral healthcare; however, its time is yet to come in most parts of the developing world. Currently, there is great emphasis on toothpaste use for oral health, while the use of mouthwashes is yet to pick up among the masses.

What is a mouthwash or oral rinse?

The mouthwash is a medicated liquid that is held in the mouth and swished by the mouth muscles, for 15 seconds to 30 seconds, to eliminate oral pathogens or disease-causing microbes in the mouth. So mouthwashes are mainly used for rinsing: swishing into all parts of the mouth to help eliminate or reduce disease-causing germs, including bacteria.

Gargling is the process of taking the gargle liquid to back of throat holding it there and blowing air through the liquid to make a gurgling sound. Many of the oral rinses or mouthwashes are safe to be used as throat gargles. Thus, the oral rinse when used for mouth rinsing and throat gargling helps protect the mouth and throat from infection – thereby, helps avoid the associated soreness, redness, pain, discomfort and difficulty in function of mouth and throat.

The mouth or oral cavity or buccal cavity is an oval-shaped cavity. It is the gateway to complete health. The mouth includes lips, gums, teeth, mouth cavity, tongue, salivary glands, and the lower and upper portions of the mouth cavity called palate. The main functions of mouth are talking and ingesting food and drink. Even when chewing food or holding the drink in the mouth, salivary fluid starts to act on the carbohydrates and breaks down carbohydrate starch to glucose.