Recently, the use of herbal mouthwashes such as persica is increasing, due to the perceived discoloration effects and unpleasant taste of chlorhexidine.
Mixing comic patter ("I guess I could tell you exactly what I look like, but I think that's a lousy thing to say about a guy") with his clever comic songs, The Abe Burrows Show was popular with listeners and critics but not with its sponsor, Lambert Pharmaceutical, then the makers of Listerine mouthwash but promoting a Listerine toothpaste on the show.
As the pair reach the beach, the guy frolics in the surf and the girl checks out the contents of his guitar case: a suit and tie, toothpaste, mouthwash, a roll of toilet paper and a copy of Arthur C. Clarke's The City and the Stars.
The use of oil in a mouthwash product was proposed by Mel Rosenberg, following his study of bacteria that break down oil spills.
As the advertising scholar James B. Twitchell writes, "Listerine did not make mouthwash as much as it made halitosis."
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In a January 6, 2005, decision, Judge Denny Chin of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that an advertising campaign by Pfizer, claiming that the mouthwash Listerine is as effective as flossing in fighting tooth and gum decay, is false and misleading and poses a public health risk.
Also in 1995, the band contributed the song "Mouthwash" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Bothered produced by the Red Hot Organization.
It was reported in The Australian newspaper 18 November 2006 that this common ingredient in toothpaste and mouthwash can cause high cholesterol in mice.