Dr Norman Swan

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26,995 appearances 288 recordings 3 series first heard Apr 2006 last heard 15 Sep

Dr Norman Swan’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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What's That Rash? · Mouthwash: good or bad for you? · 8 Sep 2026 podcast

So it's conceivable.

But even then the amounts may well be quite low.

And so, you know, I'm not making a big deal of this.

There is some evidence, but it's not strong.

It has been related specifically to chlorohexidine, but that's probably because chlorohexidine is the commonest antiseptic, and therefore if you're doing a study of this, most people have used chlorohexidine in their mouthwashes.

And it may well be that in people who might be uh teetering on the edge of high blood pressure, it's enough to tip them over.

Who knows?

Essential oil.

You're talking about high blood pressure.

There is a study from Finland which correlates good oral health with a reduction in the risk of heart disease, particularly dying of heart disease, by as much as fifty-one percent.

But the mouthwash didn't have an additional effect on this benefit.

You and the theory here is that if you've got an unhealthy oral microbiome, a lot of dental plaque and inflammation in your glums, that inflammation spreads to your body and can affect your cardiovascular system, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

But mouthwash wasn't going to make a difference.

The evidence is really mixed about oral cancer and mouthwashes.

Because in years gone by, people would have used oral mo uh you know mouthwashes when there were smokers, when there were more smokers around to stop tooth tooth staining, maybe to change the smell of their breath, to get tobacco off their breath and so on.

And smoking causes oral cancer.

So it could be that the oral mouthwash was not causing the cancer, it was the smoking.

It was just that smokers use more mouthwash.

That was the other thing.

People wondered whether it was uh alcohol in mouthwash.

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