What Is "stabilized" Chlorine Dioxide?

[Dietitian]

I recently purchased a mouthwash that contains four ingredients:

1. Water

2. TSP (trisodium phosphate)

3. Stabilized chlorine dioxide

4. Citric acid

What does "stabilized" chlorine dioxide mean? Do they combine it with CYA?

[Cal-Hyper]

Chlorine Dioxide Mouthwash

Tl:DR it helps the product maintain the proper ppm extending the shelf life.

[bart6453]

Chlorine Dioxide Mouthwash

Tl:DR it helps the product maintain the proper ppm extending the shelf life.

Ok...now you are really freaking me out....you have to tell me the deal with dental care living vicariously through spa care in your household. What gives???

Not trying to be mean or anything, but your questions are anything but typical...to say the least.

[Dietitian]

Chlorine Dioxide Mouthwash

Tl:DR it helps the product maintain the proper ppm extending the shelf life.

Ok...now you are really freaking me out....you have to tell me the deal with dental care living vicariously through spa care in your household. What gives???

Not trying to be mean or anything, but your questions are anything but typical...to say the least.

I'm fascinated by the similarities between keeping a clean and safe spa and keeping the mouth/teeth healthy.

Tooth and spa decay are caused by bacteria and improper PH. To prevent both, oxidizers can be used, along with physical cleaning. Plaque on teeth is a biofilm, the same as one finds in a poorly maintained spa. If we could keep our mouths bacteria-free, we could avoid having plaque(biofilm) build up on our teeth. Additionally, consuming acidic water or beverages is similar to having water with a PH around 3.5 in our spas -- beer, soda, wine, juice is all around PH 3-4, and many purified waters are below 6 PH. Not good for the teeth, not good for the spa either.

I think that people think of them as completely dissimilar ideas, but many people don't realize that failing to clean/disinfect the mouth every day is similar to leaving a hot tub dirty and without sanitizer for 48 hours; it's a pretty bad idea.

Most think that brushing alone will be fine, but that is like imagining that you can keep a spa in good health by simply washing it with soap every day. Some sort of oxidizer is needed. Without it, we get plaque buildup that has to be physically removed by a dentist every six months, and causes damage to teeth during that time as bacteria produce acidic waste under the biofilm.

I'm not sure why oral oxidizer use is not more widely promoted by the ADA; as it stands now, the recommendations are similar to your spa guy telling you to clean the tub with a brush and soap, and call him every six months to come out and scrape the crusty bacterial growth off of the entire thing, replace the damaged or destroyed parts, clean the spa really well, refill and tell you to do it all over again.

[chem geek]

There is a huge difference since in the body there are beneficial bacteria -- not all are bad and you normally don't want to get rid of everything. Yes, in one's mouth, bacteria don't normally do that much good, but you just want to keep them in check, not sanitize your mouth completely. I still think your best bet is to use a good toothbrush such as Sonicare. A rinse with any standard alcohol-based mouthwash will significantly reduce the bacteria levels in your mouth (I did experiments for this in high school; salt water was OK, but mouthwash was better and the brand didn't matter as it was the alcohol that was the primary rinsing/killing agent).

[Dietitian]

There is a huge difference since in the body there are beneficial bacteria -- not all are bad and you normally don't want to get rid of everything. Yes, in one's mouth, bacteria don't normally do that much good, but you just want to keep them in check, not sanitize your mouth completely. I still think your best bet is to use a good toothbrush such as Sonicare. A rinse with any standard alcohol-based mouthwash will significantly reduce the bacteria levels in your mouth (I did experiments for this in high school; salt water was OK, but mouthwash was better and the brand didn't matter as it was the alcohol that was the primary rinsing/killing agent).

I think that a sterile mouth is better than a half sterile mouth. A pond or river or lake may have "good" bacteria that keep the water balanced, but none of us tries to keep a spa balanced with rocks, animals, rotting wood, algae, etc. It's possible, but safer to kill 99% of bacteria. I think our teeth are the same. Ponds grow biofilm even when "balanced." Our cave man ancestors didn't live long enough for biofilms to matter (avg lifespan ~30 years) but we certainly do.

[chem geek]

Talk to your dentist about your plans to sterilize your mouth. To prevent plaque, they generally recommend regular brushing with a good toothbrush and stimulation of gums with basically a wooden stick instrument. I've never heard of them saying one should sterilize the mouth (on a regular basis) and you'll be reintroducing bacteria frequently from the rest of your body anyway. Clearly in the stomach/intestines, getting rid of all bacteria is a no-no and is why you generally eat yogurt or other probiotics after taking a treatment using antibiotics is completed.

[bart6453]

There is a huge difference since in the body there are beneficial bacteria -- not all are bad and you normally don't want to get rid of everything. Yes, in one's mouth, bacteria don't normally do that much good, but you just want to keep them in check, not sanitize your mouth completely. I still think your best bet is to use a good toothbrush such as Sonicare. A rinse with any standard alcohol-based mouthwash will significantly reduce the bacteria levels in your mouth (I did experiments for this in high school; salt water was OK, but mouthwash was better and the brand didn't matter as it was the alcohol that was the primary rinsing/killing agent).

I think that a sterile mouth is better than a half sterile mouth. A pond or river or lake may have "good" bacteria that keep the water balanced, but none of us tries to keep a spa balanced with rocks, animals, rotting wood, algae, etc. It's possible, but safer to kill 99% of bacteria. I think our teeth are the same. Ponds grow biofilm even when "balanced." Our cave man ancestors didn't live long enough for biofilms to matter (avg lifespan ~30 years) but we certainly do.

Do you really thing that you are going to have a eureka moment with spa chemicals and dental care?

really?????

Don't you think that the various universities and dentists who have fought tooth decay on a daily basis for hundreds of years would know much more about bacteria and PH balance in your mouth than some backyard warrior that just read about similar ingredients on both their spa chemicals and their mouthwash?

[Dietitian]

Talk to your dentist about your plans to sterilize your mouth. To prevent plaque, they generally recommend regular brushing with a good toothbrush and stimulation of gums with basically a wooden stick instrument. I've never heard of them saying one should sterilize the mouth (on a regular basis) and you'll be reintroducing bacteria frequently from the rest of your body anyway. Clearly in the stomach/intestines, getting rid of all bacteria is a no-no and is why you generally eat yogurt or other probiotics after taking a treatment using antibiotics is completed.

I spoke with a dentist during a round of golf a couple days ago, and he agreed that the two were similar and that disinfecting the mouth is a good idea -- significantly reducing oral microbes is the goal.

Our saliva already contains natural enzymes that work in multiple ways to destroy bacteria, but when the saliva is overwhelmed biofilms begin to form and calcify. Tarter is a calcified biofilm that is removed with dental instruments.

[Dietitian]

Do you really thing that you are going to have a eureka moment with spa chemicals and dental care?

really?????

Don't you think that the various universities and dentists who have fought tooth decay on a daily basis for hundreds of years would know much more about bacteria and PH balance in your mouth than some backyard warrior that just read about similar ingredients on both their spa chemicals and their mouthwash?

The realization that dental plaque is a biofilm was a eureka moment for me, yes. The degradation caused by improper PH and bacterial growth in your mouth is exactly the same problem we combat in our spas.

[Dietitian]

Clearly in the stomach/intestines, getting rid of all bacteria is a no-no and is why you generally eat yogurt or other probiotics after taking a treatment using antibiotics is completed.

The gut depends on bacteria to digest food, and should not be disinfected. The teeth and gums actively fight bacteria using enzymes. They are different systems with different goals.