An oral surgeon gave me a recipe to make my own. It is more for tender gums or sore throat.

2 tsp of vinegar, apple cider is the best
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of warm water

I store it in a glass bottle in the fridge to keep that stringy stuff from appearing. I warm it in the micro wave before I use it. It's great mouth wash but not for bad breath. My doctor told me not to use mouth wash, he says it causes more problems than it solves.

Yeah, I saw an interview on TV, don't remember whose show it was on, this fellow formulated a new kind of mouthwash. He said that the mouthwashes that sting the inside of your mouth have a backlash and actually make your breath worse then. He actually had a "Breath-o-Meter" with him and was testing everyone's breath before and after they used mouthwash.

He said people can't smell their own bad breath (I believe this for sure!), that cupping your hand over your mouth and nose and blowing through your mouth, in order to be able to smell whether you have bad breath doesn't work, and that the way to tell if you have bad breath is to lick a spot on the back of your hand and then smell that. I used to work with a vegetarian who always said proudly that she didn't have stinky poops OR bad breath because she didn't eat meat. I didn't know about the poops nor would I want to, but she certainly had horrible breath.

I don't use mouthwash for bad breath. Once in awhile if I feel a sore throat coming on or if I happen to accidentally bite the inside of my mouth, I will swish around a little store brand "Listerine". After the initial sting goes away, it has a bit of a numbing effect and seems to speed healing, at least for me. For bad breath, I find the best thing is actually to make sure that you are drinking plenty of water.

Ilene, the story of your vegetarian co-worker made me laugh!

Several things can cause bad breath, including stress, not flossing, and poor digestion. Not to mention eating garlic. I can always tell when DH has eaten garlic.

My mother (89 yo) has a bit of dementia and has been diluting her mouthwash to "save money." She often has bad breath, so we are trying to convince her not to dilute it.

I'm getting ready to have a garage sale and have been dividing plants and getting additional information on them to attach to them. I have quite a bit of what I call Bergamot. It's also known as Oswego Tea, Horse Mint, or Bee Balm. So I found this information on Wikipedia and thought of this post: "Bee Balm is the natural source of the antiseptic Thymol, the primary active ingredient in modern commercial mouthwash formulas.

Although somewhat bitter, due to the thymol content in the plants leaves and buds, the plant tastes like a mix of spearmint and peppermint with oregano, to which it is closely related. Bee Balm was traditionally used by Native Americans as a seasoning for wild game, particularly birds. The plants are widespread across North America and can be found in moist meadows, hillsides, and forest clearings up to 5,000 feet in elevation. "

You could make a tea from the leaves and use it as mouthwash. Or even chew a leaf or two maybe.

You can buy seed from most seed companies. Just scatter it where you want it to grow in the fall and come spring you will have lots of little plants. It takes until the following year for it to bloom (the flowers look like firecracker explosions, and they attract bees and butterflies and sometimes hummingbirds). Hope this helps!

My dentist told me the best way to tell if you have bad breath is by flossing your teeth, then smell the used floss.

If ya have three teeth ... two side-by-side ... I guess ya can floss ...

... and a box'd last till yer dyin' day, even though, even at 80, that day might be some long time removed ...

... but there'd be little smell on the floss string, one would think.

(Tell me I'm wrong).

o j