Best Mouthwash For Swab Test

What can you do if you’re facing a mouth swab drug test and you don’t think you’ll pass? The most common solution to this problem is to use mouthwash. But can you use any old mouthwash that you find at the grocery store? Let’s take a minute to get an overview of detox mouthwashes, then we can look at some popular products and figure out if there are any best mouthwash for swab test.

Mouthwashes For Swab Tests – Overview

At first glance, swishing a mouthwash before a mouth swab drug test seems like a simple way to get around an inconvenient drug test. But if you check out product reviews, you’ll find conflicting testimonies.

Some people claim they used a detox mouthwash and passed their mouth swab drug test with flying colors, while others complain that the mouthwash didn’t help them at all. So what’s the truth, why do people experience such different results?

Well, we don’t have any definitive answers, but we can make a few suggestions.

Different drugs have different detection windows in saliva. Usually, you’ll see a general detection window given for common drugs.

For the drugs on a saliva test – opiates, cocaine, marijuana, amphetamine, methamphetamine, phencyclidine, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and oxycodone – that window is up to 48 hours after last use. And for methadone, methaqualone, ecstasy, and propoxyphene, the detection window is up to 72 hours.

The first obvious observation is that the people who passed their swab test may have been outside the detection window, especially as detox mouthwash instructions often tell you to avoid “toxins” for 2 days before your test. Toxins are the word they use to refer to drugs.

For anyone with enough time to follow the instructions to the letter, there’s a high probability they would pass the test without a detox mouthwash.

Other factors that will affect test results are your sex, age, activity level, body fat percentage, hydration level, metabolism, a drug taken, and amount used.

Does that mean that detox mouthwashes are useless?

Not necessarily. But to know more we need to look at the ingredients in the mouthwashes and understand what effects they can have on a mouth swab drug test result.

So let’s look at the most popular detox mouthwashes for swab tests and see how they could help you pass if you don’t have time to abstain for a few days.

Best Mouthwash For Swab Tests # 1 – Stinger Alcohol-Free Detox Mouthwash

Ingredients – Filtered water, natural and artificial flavors, citric acid, sodium benzoate. Stinger Proprietary Detox Blend (L-Taurine, ascorbic acid, methylsulfonylmethane, D-ribose, L-lysine, niacin).

What are those ingredients?

We can ignore the water and flavoring, and since sodium benzoate is just a preservative, we can ignore that too.

The key ingredient of interest in this detox mouthwash is citric acid. Citric acid massively increases saliva production, and this can have an effect on drug detection in saliva.

A paper released by the U.S Department of Justice on the “Evaluation of Saliva/Oral Fluid as an Alternate Drug Testing Specimen” revealed that drug levels found in saliva produced after stimulation with citric acid were lower than the levels in naturally generated saliva.

The researchers give a couple of explanations for this effect.

• Increased saliva flow dilutes drug concentrations
• Changes to saliva pH alter drug concentrations

If you’ve ever eaten a sour candy, then you’ve experienced how citric acid floods your mouth with saliva.

Since increased saliva dilutes drug concentrations, citric acid appears to be the magic ingredient in Stinger mouthwash.

How long does citric acid increase saliva production? From the studies we looked at, saliva flow can be increased for up to 1 hour but the biggest effect is within a short time of using citric acid.

When you take a saliva swab drug test, the person administering the test will ask you to wait for 10 minutes without eating or drinking anything because food and drink can interfere with the test result. That time will usually be taken up by checking your ID and completing the test paperwork.

You won’t have a chance to use the mouthwash during this period, so it’s important that you use it as close as possible to the start of your appointment. In case there’s a delay when you arrive which means you’re waiting around for a long time, you might like to have an extra bottle of mouthwash in your pocket to use right before you go in.

What about those other ingredients, are they of any use? L-taurine and L-lysine are both amino acids, D-ribose is a sugar, and methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) is a sulfur supplement. None of these have any apparent ability to detox saliva.

How To Use Stinger Mouthwash Before Your Saliva Swab Test

1. Take small sips of the mouthwash and swish it around your mouth for at least 1 minute.
2. Continue to rinse your mouth with the mouthwash until the entire bottle is used up.
3. Do not brush your teeth, or eat or drink anything until your test is over.

If you’ve been kept waiting, when you’re called in for your test, excuse yourself and run to the bathroom where you can use the second bottle of mouthwash.

Pros of Stinger Detox Mouthwash

• A small 2oz bottle is easy to conceal in your pocket
• Includes citric acid to increase saliva production
• Reasonable price
• Pleasant vanilla flavor
• Alcohol-free formula

Stinger Mouthwash Cons

• Ingredient percentages not listed
• No studies available showing the effectiveness
• Need to use close-to-test administration

Purchase Stinger mouthwash from Amazon.com, Walmart, and local head shops.

Overall Verdict

If you’ve got a drug test today, or you want to keep something on hand in case you’re faced with a surprise drug test, Stinger Detox Mouthwash appears to be a good choice.

Use the product as close to your test appointment as possible to benefit from the most saliva production.

Best Mouthwash For Swab Tests # 2 – Ultra Klean Ultra Wash Mouthwash

Marketed as a saliva-cleaning mouthwash, this product is another popular choice and the company offers a 500% money-back guarantee if you don’t pass your drug test.

Information on the manufacturer’s website claims that the mouthwash is scientifically proven to pass a mouth swab test, but they don’t provide any study results for us to look at.

This mouthwash is another product that needs to be used very close to your swab test appointment because it only guarantees a pass within 30 minutes of use.

Let’s look at the ingredients in Ultra Klean mouthwash.

Ingredients: Water, glycerin, magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride, sodium chloride, witch hazel, aloe vera, boron citrate, lithium sulfate, peppermint, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate.

We’ll ignore sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate because they’re just preservatives.

Product labels list ingredients in order of quantity, from the largest to the smallest. From the Ultra Klean ingredient list, we have water as the largest ingredient, followed by glycerin.

Glycerin is a common ingredient in mouthwashes. Its primary use is as a solvent to incorporate the other ingredients. Glycerin also increases the viscosity of the mouthwash enabling it to adhere to oral surfaces for longer.

Given that glycerin is listed as the second largest ingredient, we can assume that the concentration of glycerin in this product is higher than you’ll find in a regular mouthwash.

Why is this important?

Well, glycerin is commonly used in products designed to help with dry mouth conditions because it binds with mucous membranes in the mouth and coats and lubricates oral surfaces acting as a saliva substitute.

If you rub a drop of glycerin between your fingertips, you’ll feel how slippery it is. It’s not as slippery as oil, but it’s close.

This mouthwash appears to work by coating your mouth with glycerin which will interfere with the amount of saliva collected.

The next ingredient that seems like it could be useful is peppermint. Peppermint can stimulate saliva production, and since the glycerin in this mouthwash helps other ingredients linger in the mouth, the peppermint could be active for a while.

The other ingredients don’t appear to have any obvious benefits.

How To Use Ultra Klean Mouthwash Before A Mouth Swab Test

1. Within 30 minutes of your test use half of the mouthwash to rinse your mouth for 2 to 3 minutes then spit it out.
2. Repeat with the remaining mouthwash.
3. Do not eat or drink anything until your saliva test is complete.

Pros of Ultra Klean Mouthwash

• A small bottle is easy to conceal
• Reasonable price
• Should coat the mouth and increase saliva production
• Pleasant minty flavor
• 500% money-back guarantee

Ultra Klean Mouthwash Cons

• Ingredient percentages not listed
• No studies prove manufacturers’ claims
• Need to use within 30 minutes of your test

Purchase Ultra Klean Ultra Wash from Amazon.com and local head shops.

Overall Verdict

The ingredients make sense and the satisfaction guarantee is an attractive selling point. If Ultra Klean honor their 5x money-back guarantee, they would soon be out of business if their products didn’t work.

Best Mouthwash For Swab Tests # 3 – High Voltage Saliva Cleanse Detox Mouthwash

Deep cleaning is the main focus of this mouthwash.

Ingredients: Water, high fructose corn syrup 42, refiners’ syrup, alcohol, eucalyptol, menthol, methyl salicylate, thymol, benzoic acid, Poloxamer 407, caramel flavor, salt, natural and artificial flavors, caramel color, sodium benzoate.

This detox makes use of some essential oils in its formulation. Thymol is from thyme, eucalyptol is from eucalyptus, menthol is from peppermint, and methyl salicylate is from wintergreen. These are the same extracts found in Listerine.

High Voltage mouthwash is actually remarkably similar to Listerine with its benzoic acid, Poloxamer 407, alcohol, and caramel.

We don’t know if the percentages of the ingredients are the same as Listerine, but the only real difference we can see is the addition of high fructose corn syrup and refiners syrup.

Both of these thicken the mouthwash in a similar way to glycerin, helping the mouthwash adhere to your mouth, teeth, and gums. In theory, this should keep the active ingredients in your mouth longer than regular Listerine.

So what are the other active ingredients? Well, Poloxomer 407 is an anti-foaming surfactant, which is a fancy way of saying detergent. Basically, it’s a good cleanser that will give your mouth a deep clean. The essential oils all have antibacterial and antifungal properties but it’s not clear how they provide any benefit from a drug detox point of view.

Menthol (from peppermint), will help to increase saliva production, though.

How To Use High Voltage Mouthwash Before A Saliva test

• Shake the bottle.
• Sip small amounts of the mouthwash and swish around the mouth for at least 1 minute. Spit.
• Repeat until all of the bottles are used up.
• Use as close to test time as possible.
• Do not eat, drink, or brush your teeth until the test is over.

High Voltage Mouthwash Pros

• Deep cleaning ingredients
• Small bottle
• Claims to be effective for up to 1 hour
• Should increase saliva production

High Voltage Mouthwash Cons

• Very similar to Listerine

Purchase High Voltage Saliva Cleanse Mouthwash from Amazon.com and local head shops.

Overall Verdict

Drug users frequently turn to Listerine when they’re trying to pass a saliva test, and results vary. While this mouthwash appears to be very similar to Listerine, the advantage it seems to offer is its ability to persist in the mouth for longer because of the addition of corn syrup and refiners syrup.

It’s impossible to say if this will actually improve the results, but your mouth will definitely get a deep clean with this product.

Wrapping Up

No mouthwash is guaranteed to help you pass a drug test and the most popular mouthwashes that we looked at seem to work by giving your mouth a good clean, coating your mouth, and/or increasing saliva production to reduce the concentration of drugs in your saliva.

If you’ve got a drug test in the next couple of days and you think you’ll be on the boundary between a pass and a fail, a detox mouthwash may give you an extra edge.

But if you’re looking at options that you can use on a more regular basis to beat random saliva tests, you should run the mouthwashes through your own tests first using DIY saliva drug testing kits you can buy at any pharmacy.