★★★★★
Anyway without getting into all that too much, I've found that tea tree oil diluted in high alcohol mouthwash does the trick. I don't know how toxic it is in this application though as I know the mouth absorbs things quite easily. Hopefully it's ok. But yes it does work about as well as chlorhexidine but without the change to sense of taste.
It's very odd because I find the high alcohol mouthwash on its own doesn't seem to work and the tea tree in water by itself doesn't seem to work either. So... I'm still experimenting!!
I am trying to find a better solution still though. Maybe hydrogen peroxide but I never had much success with that in the past. I'll try again :)