Total Care Listerine is Safe!

I recently discovered that Total Care Listerine is perfectly fine for me to use. I’ve been using it daily now for around a month or so and have noticed no issues. It’s good to know that my choices of mouthwash aren’t as limited as I once thought they were.

For the last several years, I’d been using the Act Total Care mouthwash. I would always get the alcohol-free version. However, the grocery store had gone a while without stocking any new bottles. I’d been using another variety of Act that seemed fine enough, but I wanted to be able to get the Total Care. When I went back to the store to get more mouthwash and once again saw that the Total Care wasn’t there, I decided that I wanted to try something different. The only other thing that seemed comparable was the Listerine Total Care. I was hesitant because I’d stopped using it years before because I thought I was reacting to it. I even discussed it here. What was worse is that the store had the alcohol-free version only in the really large bottle. I didn’t want to have to deal with handling and finding space for such a big bottle. I decided to bite the bullet and give the regular alcohol version of the Listerine Total Care a try.

I ran out of the Act mouthwash finally one morning and started the Listerine that night. I had developed a way of using mouthwash to prevent any contamination. I pour the mouthwash into the cap and take it that way. I then rinse off the cap before replacing it on the bottle. Before I pour the mouthwash, I wash my hands in order to handle the cap with clean hands. When using a new bottle for the first time, I’ll rub the cap well with my hands in order to clean off any residue that might be on it. Since the cap has a seal on it, the cap is probably clean for the most part, but I take this step to be on the safe side. These steps have helped me to use mouthwash safely, and if I get careless doing something else that causes contamination, my mouthwash at least can stay uncontaminated. I used these same steps when taking my first dose of the mouthwash that night. While I was anxious about trying it, I knew that when I was using it before, I didn’t take these precautionary steps, so any reaction to the mouthwash back then might have been due to my mishandling of it. I used that first dose, hoping for the best.

I never noticed any issues while sleeping that night. In the past, I would wake up in the middle of the night not feeling well, and I would conclude that something I’d consumed or put into my mouth before bed had caused symptoms. I didn’t notice any such thing after using the Total Care Listerine. I used it the next morning as well and so far have been using it each morning and night since then. I’ve not had a single issue with it. I was thrilled to be able to go back to using a mouthwash I’d been using for years before I went gluten-free.

I can think of a few reasons for the Listerine being unusable shortly after I went gluten-free. One, the ingredients may have been different or were derived differently when I decided to stop using it after going gluten-free. Two, I may have contaminated the mouthwash myself. I would basically just take a swig directly from the bottle, swish it, and spit it into the sink. It’s possible that anything that might have been in my mouth at that point back-washed into the bottle. I may have contaminated it some other way. Another possibility is that there was nothing wrong with the mouthwash at all, and I got rid of it along with other things that seemed suspicious. I went all scorched-earth to make sure I was not taking in any gluten contamination. I think I either contaminated the mouthwash myself or just got rid of it because it seemed suspect. At any rate, I’m glad that it’s a safe option for me, which gives me more options when shopping for a mouthwash.

I’m thankful I’ve been able to add another product to the list of things that I can use safely. Knowing that I was mishandling so many things back in the early months and years of going gluten-free has allowed me to try things that seem perfectly safe ingredients-wise. I hope I can continue to use these things.

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