Listerine Total Care Zero –Less Intense, Zero Alcohol, Just as Effective

I’ve always been a fan of mouth wash. Oral care in general actually. I try to take very good care of my teeth and set a good example for my children. My almost 4 year old has been brushing his teeth since he could and my 16 month old now does the same. I have never heard as much as one complaint from them, they actually ask to brush, which makes me one proud mom.

Thing is, I keep mouth wash in the house but my boys aren’t quite old enough for it yet. They have seen me using it and my oldest knows what it’s for so I have had to be careful at times and actually hide it. As we all know, kids love to imitate. A lot of mouthwashes have an enormous amount of alcohol in them, which of course can be dangerous to children.

I’ve been experimenting with various mouthwashes for the past year or so, trying to find one that I really love. I tend to go for those like Listerine (my favorite) that actually burn your mouth when you use it. I love the burn, always makes me feel like my mouth is super clean. But once again, a lot of that burn has to do with alcohol. I tried all the alcohol free varieties and I didn’t like them at all. They always have a weird aftertaste. I even tried a natural aloe type and I keep that as backup but it just don’t have that sweet burn of freshness! 

A couple of weeks ago Crowdtap  (Want to join? Click here to learn more) sent some members a bottle of Listerine Total Care Zero. I was completely skeptical and figured it would taste the exact same as all the other non-alcohol mouthwashes. I was wrong! I like being wrong sometimes because in this case Total Care Zero is actually pretty great. It had that awesome burn of freshness I keep talking about, with absolutely no alcohol believe it or not.  This meant that if I forgot to hide the bottle one day or my son was accidently able to get it open and take a swig I didn’t have to worry about him getting a big gulp of alcohol!

Of course the bottle is child-proof but I know for a fact that nothing is 100% child-proof. We forget to put on the cap, the cap goes on the wrong way, we’re in a hurry, we leave it out.. there are just so many opportunities for accidents. It does still have fluoride in it and you have to be careful about that, but really for me it’s one less thing you know? and I like that. Also, when my 3 year old is a bit older I can try to introduce him to this mouthwash without having to spend ridiculous amounts on special mouthwash for kids and have multiple bottles laying around.

Listerine Total Care Zero boasts 6 benefits in 1:

• Helps prevent cavities
• Restores enamel
• Strengthens teeth
• Kills bad breath germs
• Cleans the whole mouth
• Alcohol Free

I tried the fresh mint flavor, which ironically comes in a light purplish color. My only complaint would be that I’d love to see it colorless but I think that might be another type of danger to children who could mistake it for water. The only active ingredient is 0.02% Sodium fluoride so if you like to use non-fluoride products it wouldn’t be for you. I’m personally not against them.

It really is the first non-alcohol mouthwash that that I actually see myself using the full bottle of. Usually the rest end up in the garbage (along with my money). I think you’ll be presently surprised, just as I was!

Just remember, modeling good oral health habits for your children is just as important as any other lessons you can teach your child in life. Children always learn by example. They’re  looking to you to practice what you preach. Oral health is a big part of overall health and starting them young is your best bet to help them develop great oral health habits!

Disclosure: I received the above product in order to facilitate this review. Want to join Crowdtap and review products too? Click here to read all about it!