A City of Leeds dentist has been advising their patients that some oral hygiene mouth washes and care products, can do more bad than good. The problem stems from the way we tend to assume that doing something is better than doing nothing. Oral care products such as toothpaste, mouth washes, tooth brushes and flossing string are all good for us, but we are individuals and so we really need to buy these products to order. Talking to your dental practices oral hygiene nurse will help you to get to know your teeth better, and in turn this advice will assist you in getting the right products to help your oral hygiene regime. “Mints keep your breath fresh all day” is probably the biggest fallacy in advertising history, many mint products contain sugary additives and these will just provide oral bacteria with more food. That in turn produces more acid which eats away at the enamel and the gums, causing the most common diseases that further damage our teeth and gums. Drinking water through the day will prevent damage better than chewing mint products, a flossing stick will dislodge more food debris than a mouth wash. Food caught in between our teeth is what bacteria lives off, the damage this does weakens the gums and allows bacteria into the gums to fester even more. A simple formula tooth paste is much better than a fancy one that claims to whiten your teeth, many of these pastes have grinding products in them that simply take the top layer of enamel off. This will wear down the teeth and allow bacteria to enter deeper into the unprotected tooth, disease will set in and often the only way to save the tooth is to have a root canal treatment. So before you buy anything, talk to your practice hygiene nurse.