title: Reductions in breath ethanol readings in normal male volunteers following mouth rinsing with water at differing temperatures.
abstract: Blood ethanol concentrations were measured sequentially, over a period of hours, using a Lion AE-D2 alcolmeter, in 12 healthy male subjects given oral ethanol 0.5 g/kg body wt. Readings were taken before and after rinsing the mouth with water at varying temperatures. Mouth rinsing resulted in a reduction in the alcolmeter readings at all water temperatures tested. The magnitude of the reduction was greater after rinsing with water at lower temperatures. This effect occurs because rinsing cools the mouth and dilutes retained saliva. This finding should be taken into account whenever breath analysis is used to estimate blood ethanol concentrations in experimental situations.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001944:Breath Tests; D000431:Ethanol / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009055:Mouth; D013696:Temperature; D007507:Therapeutic Irrigation; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D000431:Ethanol