Title:Testing the effectiveness of alcohol and alcohol-free mouthwash against bacteriaIntroduction:A large number of these products claim to do the same thing: kill bacteria. It's worth considering what these products actually do, versus the claims about them. Although many of these products promise to present a final environment with 0% bacteria and fresh breath, the accuracy of this claim depends heavily on the ingredients present within them. the solution. Alcohol is a very common ingredient in most mouthwashes due to its strong bacteria-fighting effects. It has been used for many years by major oral care brands. While this is a positive effect of alcohol in mouthwashes, many alcohol-containing mouthwashes have been shown to cause other health problems such as dry mouth, etc. So, although alcohol mouthwash kills most bacteria, it has no effect on the end result of the ongoing bad breath problem. Therefore, mouthwashes that do not contain alcohol but contain another agent that kills bacteria are more effective. Recent studies completed by Maria Perno Goldie, RDH, MS show that “alcohol-containing products like Listerine end up reducing bacteria in patients by between 13% and 56%, while alcohol-free rinses, like Colgate Pro-Health, had a 15% effect on bacteria. (Goldie, 2013) For this experiment, a series of mouthwashes were used to test whether alcohol-based mouthwashes are more effective than non-alcohol mouthwashes. The products tested included two most commonly found leading brands and used in everyday life, Listerine and Colgate. From these two brands a selection of four mouthwashes was chosen: two without alcohol...... middle of paper......both bacterial mouthwash tested, Listerine Zero, was the least effective, with an average of 3.47058824 mm for S.albus and an average of 2.47647059 mm for E.coli. Containing no alcohol, this is the least effective of the raw data in Figure Two were then averaged into four and then presented in a graph. Figure Three. Figure Three – Calculated averages of recorded results. From Figure Three, it is clearly evident that Colgate Plax provided the best results and was the most effective against both E.coli and S.albus. Listerine Fresh Burst was second most effective against S.albus and third best against E.coli. . Colgate Max White One was third most effective for S.albus and second best for E.coli, while Listerine Zero was least effective for both S.albus and E.coli