Fun fact: the fresh, cool, mouth feeling you get after using mouthwash doesn’t actually indicate that your teeth and mouth are clean.
Though a fluoride mouthwash may help prevent cavities, it won’t in any way help you with the removal of plaque from your teeth itself.
So, Can You Remove Plaque with Mouthwash Alone? No.
Plaque is the bacteria coating that might build up on your teeth, not only throughout the day but while you are asleep at night. Improper brushing or even a lack of brushing may start to cause a larger build-up of plaque on your teeth, which can have an extremely negative effect on your overall oral health.
Left alone and unbrushed, plaque on your teeth might even lead to decay, bad-smelling breath, and often gingivitis. These are all some of the reasons why it is critically important to always brush your teeth daily, though it is recommended that you brush twice a day, employing a proper brushing technique.
Used by themselves, neither toothpaste nor mouthwash will be able to help you deal with all the negative effects that plaque might have on your teeth. This is because neither toothpaste or mouthwash can get the plaque off of your teeth when used as an only tooth cleaning product or device.
Used alone, they may help strengthen your teeth and help prevent tooth decay from the plaque that has been building up over time, however, they will not be able to help you in the actual removal of the plaque already on your teeth and already causing the damage to them.
The Toothbrush, Floss, and Mouthwash Combo:
If you want to keep your mouth healthy and your smile sparkling, it is recommended that you use floss and a soft-bristled toothbrush, combined with a fluoride toothpaste as well as fluoride mouthwash. This helps your teeth by restoring the lost minerals to them, which may be a result of acids from the food you consume, beverages you have drunk as well as the plaque on your teeth.
A number of problems may come from not cleaning your teeth and not removing the plaque off of them daily. Issues like cavities, gingivitis, gum disease, bad breath, and tooth decay are all possible results that come as a result of not brushing your teeth properly and daily and not removing the plaque from them.