Review: SmartMouth Mouthwash, Toothpaste, Mints, and Gum
SmartMouth Mouthwash and its related products are quite interesting. The company advertises that by utilizing zinc, the products eliminate bad breath, including morning breath. Ken (my boyfriend) and I recently tried a number of the Smart Mouth products over a period of several weeks with favorable results.Smart Mouth is based on “zinc ion technology”, which according to the company literature, neutralizes the germs that produce bad breath gasses. As a result, twice daily use can eliminate bad breath, including morning breath. Noting that the products are based on a published study, and with a page of glowing testimonials, I certainly was curious to give it a try. The product was also recently featured on an episode of The Apprentice, but I have not had a chance to watch the episode.
Although the focus of the company’s advertising is generally on the mouthwash, the company also makes toothpaste, mints and gum. I initially tried only the mouthwash, and after about 8 days added the toothpaste. I also tried the mints. Ken used the toothpaste with the mouthwash all along, plus he tried the gum. Overall, we liked the results.
First and foremost, the stuff does seem to work. I didn’t feel like I noticed a difference until I used it for about 4-5 days straight. This is in line with the packaging, which states that several weeks of use may be needed for ideal effectiveness. My results also improved when I added the toothpaste. It seemed that Ken, who was using the toothpaste from the start, had quicker results. After 2 weeks, the results were clearly noticeable and Ken commented on my lack of morning “dragon breath.” He also noticed when I failed to use it one night.
The mouthwash comes in two pump dispenser containers and must be combined right before use. It has a light mint taste that does a fairly effective job of covering up the metallic taste of zinc. That tinge of zinc taste is still there, but it did not particularly bother us in terms of overall taste or use. The toothpaste taste is similar, as are the mints and gum. But here is the downside, that zinc taste hangs around. For me, I noticed that instead of an icky morning breath taste when I woke up, I had a slight zinc taste going on. Ken noticed this too, and also felt that his mouth at times seemed slightly dry after using the products. But in the end, both of us felt that the zinc taste was better than any morning breath taste or smell, and that it would not stop us from using the products. I also felt that after a couple of weeks I got used to the zinc aftertaste and noticed it less.
As for the the gum and the mints, I really liked the mints. They had a good flavor, and although they too had a bit of zinc taste, it did not bother me. They certainly seemed to work fine for freshening the breath. Because I had some temporary dental onlays at the time, I did not try the gum. Ken tried it and reported that it was average. He didn’t love it or hate it. He felt the same about the mints.
Overall, this interesting line of products is worth a try for anyone who is concerned about preventing, instead of merely covering over, bad breath. The ability to prevent morning breath is particularly impressive. The products are available at a number of retail stores and online from Drugstore.com.
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cassie | Apr 23, 2008 | Reply
Nice article and section…Tooth care is so neglected in beauty blogs. Like what good is lip gloss If you have smelly breath and brown teeth haha. Anyways, I tried the smartmouth line too because i got a free sample. To be honest, I found it to be somewhat effective but not worth the cost/zinc aftertaste (which was almost worse than any bad breath I had to begin with!!!).
Anyways, as far as fighting bad breath goes, I’ve definitely had the most success using the “tongue squigi” . I got one very inexpensively off dentist.net….In fact, the whole Doctor Collins line is awesome. I love his “All White” stuff. Blows crest white strips out of the water but harder to find ;/
Jenny | May 7, 2008 | Reply
I love Dr Collins stuff too! It’s SO much more effective than all that mainstream garbage. I get so many compliments on my teeth (while all my friends try to get the same effect w/ crest and it just isn’t doing the job..) I heard his products are going to be on drugstore.com soon!