Be aware that the ingredients in Listerine are :

Active Ingredients: Thymol 0.064%, Eucalyptol 0.092%, Methyl Salicylate 0.060% and Menthol 0.042%.

Inactive Ingredients: Water, Alcohol 26.9%, benzoic acid , Poloxamer 407, Sodium Benzoate, and Caramel.

A tongue scraper is better than using a tooth brush on your tongue.

Very essential is NOT using toothpaste that contains flouride.

Blueduck

Hi! I agree with using only a soft brush,but for receding gums you need to try and find out WHY they're receding. Is it the way you brush? Is it related to your whole mouth's anatomy? Are you thoroughly removing the plaque with brushing long enough? If you do a good job of brushing twice a day,it is far better for your dental health than to do a cursory job of brushing 10 times a day. If you haven't had a professional cleaning in the past year,and tartar has built up between the teeth and under the gums,no amount of brushing is going to remove it.

Have you seen the recent backlash against Listerine and its claims to be as good as or better than flossing? Of all the OTC rinses,Listerine will kill bacteria for 18-20 minutes,and the rest under 10. Then what?

Brushing your tongue as well as all inside surfaces is good advice,and you don't need to buy a scraper unless you're into gadgets.

Use a thin ribbon of toothpaste and do not brush in either a back and forth scrub brush motion,OR a circular one if your gums are receding. You need to brush in the direction the teeth have grown in..... DOWN from the top and UP from the bottom,rolling the brush over both the gums and teeth at least 5 times in each area.

BTW.....the best electric brush on the market is Sonicare. Braun Oral B is attempting to replace them as the #1 best seller,but their sonic brush is not very good. (IMHO) and after using it for several months.