MOUTHWASH MAELSTROM

Salad Bits. Photograph                                    © by Ruth Zachary

This blog follows on the heels of a problem with plastic microbeads in tooth paste- see the previous post.Tooth paste isn’t the only dental hygiene product we must research to prove it is safe. Mouthwash companies urge you to buy more and to use more of their products.

It turns out that our saliva produces enzymes that eventually end up in the bloodstream, and these enzymes are part of the body chemistry that causes the heart to beat regularly. Mouthwash left in the mouth, throat, and even swallowed can disrupt these important enzymes for hours afterward. How can we be informed enough to protect ourselves?

Use of mouthwash once a day is enough, Dr. Oz said in early May. Once the mouth is thoroughly washed to kill the bacteria causing plaque, the chemicals should be spit out, and one might want to also rinse the residue out with water.

But do we really want to dump yet another chemical or another medicine down the drain, to be recycled through a local waste water treatment plant? How do we avoid contaminating our environment and even our drinking water, since some waste water is not completely filtered, but ends up in reservoirs?. What is the answer?

A faucet filter has been used in my kitchen since November of 2013, after I developed a fourth auto-immune disorder. Even still, I know relatively little about how effective such filters are in removing chemicals from drinking water. 

Even my local health food store sells food in questionable plastic containers.

It is seriously disappointing that the very products we use to be healthy, are ones we cannot rely on not to poison us. Manufacturers certainly should be held accountable in this.


Writing and photos are the Copyright © of Ruth Zachary.