Mouthwashes get a bad rap — scientists found one that lets good bacteria flourish

Gum and get it.

While mouthwash is widely regarded as an excellent weapon against gum disease, it has the unfortunate tendency of wiping out all of the good bacteria with the bad.

But a recent study — published in Frontiers in Oral Health — says it doesn’t have to be this way.

Researchers have found a mouthwash — a natural one, at that — that seems to kill off nasty germs while nurturing friendly microbes.

“It’s a paradigm shift,” Georgios Kotsakis, assistant dean for clinical research at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, said in a press release.

“We’re moving from eradicating all bacteria to focusing on selectivity. We want to keep the good bacteria alive while targeting the bad.”

Researchers pitted a natural rinse called StellaLife VEGA Oral Care against two common mouthwashes — prescription-strength chlorhexidine and Listerine Cool Mint.

The herbal option slashed levels of harmful bacteria like Fusobacterium nucleatum and Porphyromonas gingivalis, but spared helpful microbes such as Streptococcus oralis and Veillonella parvula.

“These good bacteria have important functions,” Kotsakis said. “They synergize with your tissues. They actually kill some of the bad bacteria themselves.”

In contrast, both Listerine and chlorhexidine nuked all of the bacteria, with chlorhexidine decimating some beneficial bacteria by a staggering million-fold.

Kotsakis said next steps would involve moving to clinical trials.

The findings are refreshing in light of the fact that mouthwash has become a somewhat contentious topic, with even experts disagreeing on how beneficial — or necessary — it is.

Kotsakis himself has a pretty balanced perspective on the issue.

“If you’re brushing and flossing like a dentist — regularly and perfectly — you may not need a mouthwash, but in reality, even the best of us can miss some surfaces during cleaning at home.”

While the Mayo Clinic recommends using mouthwash after brushing and flossing, UK dental surgeon Shaadi Manouchehri suggests doing it the other way around.

“I used to use mouthwash after I brushed my teeth, and this is the worst thing you can do,” she said in a TikTok video that launched quite a debate.

“If you use mouthwash straight after, that’s rinsing away the protective fluoride layer [the toothpaste provides], and it’s going to make your teeth more susceptible to getting cavities.”