Salt as Mouth Wash

[silverstate51]

Saw today on AOL that salt gargled in water is a good mouthwash. Seems that odor causing bacteria thrive in an acidic environment. The salt helps to counteract the acids on the tongue and in the mouth.

[signseeker]

That's awesome, cuz for some reason I've found it neccessary to load up on prodigious, ungodly amounts of salt. Cha-ching!

[Charsee]

I've brushed and gargled with baking soda before...

[LoudmouthMormon]

For whatever reason, I was raised with the old wives tale that the thing about salt that made the cankers go away was how much pain it caused. My grandpa would take a moist finger full of salt and grind it in to his cankers.

Fortunately, I availed myself of medical science, and came to understand that hydrogen peroxide does the same thing, pain free.

[waif69]

I have gargled with salt water, but am concerned by gargling with hydrogen peroxide. What if I were to accidently swallow?

[LoudmouthMormon]

You'd probably barf. My wife used it on our dog after he downed an entire turkey carcass a few thanksgivings ago. A few swallows of peroxide, and out into the yard with him! It really did the trick.

[signseeker]

It's also good to put some drops in your ears after swimming... bubbles up and gets rid of the excess water which can give you (and your kids) an earache or a cold.

(H2O2, that is, not salt.)

[waif69]

OK, here is the silly question, how does the H2O2 get rid of the water? I didn't do well in Chem101.

[signseeker]

It combines with the H2O and turns into a gas, apparently. Quite nifty. I suppose one could do a little experiment on that right in the kitchen sink... mix the two and see what happens.

[waif69]

added to my todo list.