lifeolife,

The reason many conventional dentists recommend products like Listerine are because they are endorsed by the American Dental Association which is the grand poo pah of the dental industry. The endorsement is not because the product is good but rather because the ADA has some financial stake in the manufacturing and/or distribution of the product.

Mouthwash like Listerine is not a necessity in oral home care. In fact the only (short term) benefit of it is usually to mask bad breath. If you thoroughly brush your teeth twice a day, floss them and scrape your tongue once a day, your breath should be clean and not unpleasant. If you do those things and your breath is not clean, then the problem can be due to any or a combination of the following:

*gum disease, decayed teeth, medications that decrease the salivary flow, certain foods you eat or digestive or other health disorders.

Mouthwash is meant to kill germs and it does. The problem is that is cannot differentiate between the good and the bad germs. So it kills everything. The mouth naturally has many beneficial germs that are needed to help prevent tooth decay and gum disease. Killing those germs with mouthwash will pre dispose the user to tooth decay and gum disease. These are things your dentist should really be informing you about.

The sloughing off of the gum tissue is indicates an allergic type reaction or a sensitivity to one or more chemicals in the product. This is not a healthy reaction to have and can result in breaking down the healthy tissue of your gums causing problems that may not be repairable.

If you want to "freshen you breath" after you brush with something that will not have any negative affect on your oral health, you can dilute a couple drops of an edible essential oil like peppermint or other mint in 3 oz of water.

If you continue to use the product the sloughing of the tissue will continue and your gums will become sore and irritated. The same thing can happen with the inside of your cheeks, the tongue, the palate, etc. Because you have only been using it for a couple of days, if you discontinue it, the sloughing should stop and things should return to normal with a couple of days.

Hope this information helps.
Bryanna