Mouthwash can help freshen breath, remove food debris and help whiten teeth. But using it could destroy friendly bacteria in the mouth and raise the risk of high blood pressure.
High blood pressure is often described as a silent condition, and left untreated it can lead to heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease and vascular dementia.
London doctor Dr Sermed Mezher took to his TikTok channel to warn people against its use. He said: “Don’t use mouthwash your health will thank you for it.”
He explained: “Your mouth is filled with millions of these bacteria and even though a human mouth is technically dirtier than a dog’s mouth not all of these bacteria want to see you on a spit roast.
“See, some of the bacteria actually produce a chemical that’s very important called nitric oxide and when we kill them, what actually happens?”
Dr Mezher cited a study carried out by Kaumudi Joshipura, an epidemiologist, biostatistician, dentist and scientist which tried to answer this question.
As part of the study they enrolled 1,000 candidates. Around half of them were using mouthwash regularly and half were not.
Over the duration of the study 12 percent of people developed high blood pressure.
Dr Mezher said: “This blew my mind, but the people who were taking mouthwash were twice as likely to get high blood pressure compared to those who weren’t.
“This is very important as high blood pressure is linked to so many adverse health outcomes like heart attacks and strokes and even vascular problems with the legs.
“So these mouth bacteria help lower your blood pressure – don’t kill them.”