Saliva Drug Test: What To Expect And How To Pass

Ever heard of getting “drug tested”? Sure you have – either your friends complained about it as part of a hiring process for their job, someone you know had to do it as part of a probation agreement, or perhaps even you yourself have needed to provide a sample to a job or the authorities to prove that you’re drug-free. In any case, drug testing happens all the time for a number of reasons and the most common way to detect the presence of drug metabolites in the body is through urine, or a “pee test.”



However, this conventional method of drug testing can’t detect drugs for the first four hours after use, and a faster-working test has been developed to check for the recent drug intake. Did you know that it’s possible to be checked for drugs through a mouth swab test also known as saliva or oral test? It’s true – many employers opt for this type of drug screening for two reasons. First – it can be conducted directly at the job site instead of a medical center, and second – the test results can detect more recent drug use and much quicker than urine results, so the wait time is drastically lowered.

So, are you curious about this drug-detection alternative to the standard urine test? Let’s take a look at mouth swab drug tests, all that they entail, and what it could mean if you need to get one yourself:

The Procedure

The oral test is conducted by taking a look at a small amount of the saliva in your mouth. If it is conducted for a job – this happens right at the place where you work, if for legal purposes – it could happen in a legal office or at your front doorstep. Your employer, or the authorities, will have you open your mouth so they can take a sample of your saliva. This is done with a swab that usually looks like a small plastic stick with wadding at the end, and it only takes a couple of seconds.

The swab is swiped in a small part of your mouth for a few seconds and then placed into a small container for testing. It’s quick, simple, and non-invasive.

What The Test Will Do

The saliva sample you allow to be taken will then be tested for the presence of a number of drugs. The common drugs that they’ll look for are THC (marijuana), Opiates, Cocaine, Amphetamines, Methamphetamine, Ecstasy and PCP.

Medical professionals and testers have claimed that this type of test is more accurate than the urine test because it can reveal whether or not you’ve smoked, snorted, or ingested an illegal substance up to 72 hours previously. The downside of this is that it can only tell if you’ve engaged in drug use in that window. For example, if you smoke marijuana on a daily basis but stop 2-3 days prior to your mouth swab test, the results will probably come back negative. It can’t detect prolonged use or the remaining presence of a trace amounts like a urine test can.

Accuracy and Detection Times

Oral fluid samples are initially analyzed using “enzyme-linked immunoassay technology,” or ELISA. This is a proven method for drug screening – tests have been shown for cocaine, opiates and methamphetamine to be about 60% more sensitive than that of urine tests. This is a strong detection method and is likely to pick up on the drug chemicals (if they’re in there). Saliva testing, though, also screens positive test results twice – which means if there’s a mistake in your drug test, they’ll go into it more deeply and probably eliminate your false positive.

To ease your mind in knowing how long a drug will be in your system to be detected by the saliva test, here’s a description of the duration each drug stays in your system after you partake:

• Marijuana and Hash: up to 24 hours
• Opiates: 2-3 days
• Cocaine: 2-3 days
• Amphetamines, Meth, Ecstasy: 2 to 4 days
• PCP: 3 days

Mouth Swab Drug Test Hack

Though the medical community has claimed mouth swab tests are significantly more accurate and can be conducted in a lesser amount of time, passing the saliva drug test is actually much easier than trying to get around a pee sample. What is the best way to prepare for it? Take at least 3 days off from your drug of choice and brush your teeth using toothpaste and mouthwash regularly to eliminate trace elements. Many users, by thoroughly cleaning their mouth, have actually smoked the morning of their test and still passed, but taking a few extra days is the safest way to go.

How Does Detox Mouthwash Work?

Saliva tests are mostly conducted to determine any recent drug use, since oral fluids are self-cleaning, making detection possible only within a few days or even hours in rare cases. For the same reason, the effect of detox mouthwashes is also limited to a short period of time.

When mixed with saliva that already exists in your mouth, the fast-acting ingredients of mouthwash immediately start cleansing your mouth from all kinds of unwanted substances, including traces of drugs and by-products. They cannot, however, force your salivary glands to produce clean saliva or stop working at all, so over time your mouth will once again fill with contaminated oral fluids, while the detox mouthwash will be dissolved and swallowed bit by bit.

That is why cleansing your mouth from drug metabolites before a swab test requires careful timing and following instructions exactly. Mouthwashes are usually most effective for 15 to 30 minutes after using. They gradually lose their power after a specified period of time.

It is also worth noting that all the ingredients are natural, safe, and not subjected to adulteration tests, which ensures that the lab staff will not suspect you of cheating.

Home Remedies

Some pople in internet recommend certain home remedies for passing a saliva test. Here are the most popular of them:

Hydrogen Peroxide

How is this supposed to work? Prior to driving or going to work, you want to brush your teeth. Rake the plaque off your tongue. Gargle with 1% H2O2  (hydrogen peroxide) 99% water.  Then take a cotton ball and clean your entire mouth. Immediately before testing, take a mouth full of the H2O2 solution and gargle and swallow (its used in dental offices).  What this does is get the old saliva from hours ago out of your mouth, and also residuals that are stuck on your tongue. The peroxide cleans the mouth thoroughly of residuals.

Although I couldn't find studies supporting this method, numerous sources claim that it works. However, if you are going to use it, be careful not to accidentally swallow any of the peroxide. It’s can cause internal harm if ingested.

Vinegar

Using vinegar is another trick to beat a drug test because it changes the acidity level in your mouth. This method calls for a mouthwash made by adding a tablespoon of vinegar to a glass of water. The rinse is supposed to help you produce more saliva, which must dilute the drug concentration in an oral fluid sample.

In reality, changing acidity is not enough to prevent detection of drugs in oral fluids. There is no evidence to support the fact that vinegar itself can help you pass a mouth swab test this way. Rinsing your mouth with vinegar is recommended only as a preparation before using more effective solution.

Home remedies for passing a saliva drug test are not reliable. There are no scientific studies or medical research that backed their efficiency in getting you clean on the day of the test. Some may call these methods as urban legends. Home remedies are not magical solutions that could wipe the drug toxins out of your body.

What Is Inconclusive Mouth Swab Drug Test?

Drug test results can be inconclusive if the sample is diluted. An inconclusive or diluted drug test result could be a sign that the sample was tampered with, raising suspicion of whether the employee is attempting to avoid detection of drugs by “cleaning out their system.”

However, this does not mean that test is failed. There are innocent explanations for diluted samples (such as high water intake), so the donor has to retake the test.