A new coronavirus treatment is trending online, but it won’t cure anything but your bad breath.
According to the BBC, scientists at Cardiff University found that there were “promising signs” that over-the-counter mouthwashes may help to destroy the virus.
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Before we go any further, however, we should mention that doctors and scientists say mouthwash is unlikely to ever be a solution to the pandemic.
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Medical experts say that there are many ways to kill the virus on contact, however, there is no way to stop the source of the virus.
While alcohol, chlorhexidine, hydrogen peroxide and a laundry list of other compounds can all kill viruses on contact, or shortly thereafter, there has been no study that shows that mouthwash can also stop the coronavirus.
Remember, the virus, which is inside the human body, is constantly replicating in the upper respiratory tract. This includes inside the nose, the sinuses, the throat, bronchial tubes and even the lungs.
“It is still in your nose, in the fluid on your vocal cords, and in your lung airways,” Dr. Donald Milton, who studies the transmission of viruses at the University of Maryland told CNN. “All of these, and especially the vocal cords and lung airways, are major sources of the virus in the air."
Using mouthwash or some kind of oral rinse could reduce the amount of virus or bacteria in someone’s mouth for a short period of time, but it isn’t made to sterilize a human mouth, and any small bacteria or virus will grow back in a short amount of time, researchers said.
So let’s just leave the mouthwash to fighting bad breath and cavities.