My mother once told me that if something is unpleasant, there’s a good chance it’s good for you. Listerine is one of those products that proves that theory.

Listerine has been around for years. A lot of ’’old timers’’ swear by the stuff, and my dear, departed grandpap was once of them. I well remember grandpap heading for his bottle of Listerine, which came in one form -- a brown liquid that smelled rather like harsh chemicals and medicine. Thank God Listerine comes in different flavors these days -- my personal favorite is ’’Fresh Burst,’’ which is a rather strong, mint-flavored version of this stuff.

However, the new flavors of Listerine still don’t have much impact on the overall sensation of using Listerine. In short, rinsing with Listerine is, in many ways, like washing your mouth out with straight whiskey -- the stuff burns like crazy and I’m always thrilled when I’ve swished this stuff around for 30 seconds and can spit it in the sink.

It’s no wonder that rinsing with Listerine burns the heck out of one’s mouth. The active ingredients here are Thymol, Eucalyptol, Methyl Salicylate and Methol. It also contains a lot of alcohol. A quick check of the ingredients in this stuff reveals those chemicals combine to form a pretty darn good oral antiseptic.

And, that’s the huge benefit of Listerine. Sure, it fights bad breath, but it also targets plague and gingivitis. The claims Listerine makes about the benefits of this stuff are, indeed, true and a lot of dentists tell their patients to use Listerine in an overall program to maintain healthy teeth. So, I guess ol’ grandpap was right -- using Listerine regularly does lead to a cleaner mouth and kills off a good number of germs that lead to problems.

Still, the ’’germ-killing’’ process isn’t pleasant. And, this stuff is darn near unbearable if you use it when you have a canker sore. Ouch!

However, the world is full of mouth washes that merely cover up bad breath. Listerine does that just fine, but also fights some problem-causing germs and plaque. That makes this stuff the best mouth wash available.

Duration of Use:

Used for more than 4 years