Dr Michelle Dickinson: Is Garlic Be the Next Big Thing in Mouthwash?

Garlic is famous for many things, boosting flavour, warding off vampires, and making your kitchen smell incredible (or incredibly strong). But new research suggests it might have one more surprising talent: acting as a natural alternative to traditional mouthwash. 

The research published in the Journal of Herbal Medicine found that an extract made from garlic could offer antimicrobial powers comparable to chlorhexidine, a common chemical used in many medical-grade mouthwashes. 

But could garlic replace chemical mouthwashes altogether? 

Dr Michelle Dickinson discusses the findings and her take on it with Francesca Rudkin.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Doctor Michelle Dickinson joins me, Now, good morning, good morning.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Now.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Sometimes you bring in studies I so, I'm absolutely fascinating,
And occasionally you bring in a study which I find
absolutely fascinating but then think we should completely forget.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
This is the one I did. I brought this in
because I was like, I love that scientist there. I
am never going to use this data.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Tell us about how garlic could be the next big
thing in mouthwash.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
It's disgusting, Okay. So garlic is famous for lots of things.
I love it on my bread, I love it for
thinking about warding off vampires. I think that when I'm
cooking garlic in the kitchen, my house smells amazing. However,
new research which has just come out in the Journal
of Herbomusin has said this is going to be an
amazing ingredient for mouthwash, and I won't let me read

(00:56):
some more. So, garlic can offer amazing anti microball powers
and it can actually rule out the need to use
a chemical that's called claw hexady, which is mostly in mouthwashes. Right, now,
and that's what we use as a sort of antibacterial agent.
So there is a compound called alison which is released

(01:16):
when garlic is crushed or ch up, and we know
that it inhibits bacteria, fungi, and some viruses, and previous
studies showed that garlic has reduced inflammation in the mouth
and even maybe killed microbes in root canal systems. So
these researchers went, oh, what about if we put it
in a bottle and made you swill? It is that good? Yes,
the study said, it is amazing, And yes it is

(01:40):
as good as clorhextine, which is the gold standard of
antimicrobial mouthwashes. And yes you can use it. And it
doesn't have the same side effects. It doesn't stain your
teeth like clohexidine does, it doesn't after the tastes in
your mouth. It doesn't cause mouth irritation. Great, So they
put it basically in a liquid. They made these people
wash their mouths with it. All the bacteria were gone.

(02:02):
It was so efficient, but as you can imagine, no
one wants to be anywhere near you. The patients stank.
They had their worst garlic breath ever. They said it
tasted disgusting. They said, yeah, I've got no bacteria in there,
but I feel gross. So it's a trader.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Could they work out whether just eating it would also
have an unpet.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
No, it was definitely right. You have to get between garglet.
You've got to have that contact where it's on there
for more than thirty seconds. No, you've got to gargle
the garlic. But everybody said, this is the most accessing
thing I've had to gargle. And afterwards they had garlic
breath for hours. So you know, if you don'ly use chemicals,
garlic is your thing, but if you want to have friends,

(02:44):
I'm not sure there's a science I'm going to use.
I love it.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Thank you so much, Michelle.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
For more from the Sunday session with Friandchessica Rudken, listen
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