Can you mix mouthwash and peroxide?

Answer 1

Absolutely! Colgate makes an antiseptic mouth rinse called Peroxyl that's intended for use if you have mouth sores, bleeding gums from recent dental work, etc. I've also found it to be effective against general gum problems when used daily with good overall oral hygiene (its directions say to use it only seven days at a time, but I say bunk, since it's generally safe to use peroxide and mouthwash every day).

However, at about $10 a bottle even at Walmart, Peroxyl is a bit pricey. But, here's the real kicker. It's just 1.5% hydrogen peroxide, 5.5% alcohol, food coloring, flavoring and artificial sweetener.

You can get a large bottle of 3% peroxide for less than $1, and you can generally get a large bottle of Listerine knockoff for less than $4. Then, you can mix equal parts peroxide and mouthwash for basically the same thing, with only the alcohol content and flavoring being the biggest variables. And, the alcohol in the half-peroxide/half-mouthwash mix will simply be half of whatever is in the mouthwash by itself.

So, for less than $2, you can make a perfectly effective alternative to Peroxyl that can even have as much as 17.5% alcohol by volume, which will make it even more effective at killing germs. But, if that's still too much alcohol for your tastes, you can just get a less alcoholic variety of mouthwash than Listerine.

So, to recap, yes. You can mix hydrogen peroxide with mouthwash. Doing so will give you $10 worth of super-germ-fighting mouth rinse for less than a fifth of the cost of the premixed stuff.