Unknown to many is the fact that there are many other causes of mouth alcohol apart from alcoholic beverages. The use of everyday products such as breath mints, mouthwash, cough syrup, or cold medicine prior to taking a breath test might increase your breath test results. Certain medical conditions such as acid reflux disease and GERD can cause inaccurately high BAC levels on a Breathalyzer.
Dental work such as false teeth, braces, and dentures can affect your test results due to food being trapped in your gums and teeth. Bodily functions such as burps, vomit, or hiccups can even affect your test results, as they can bring the alcohol vapors from the stomach back into the mouth. Even environmental factors such as paint and other chemicals have been known to affect the accuracy of Breathalyzer tests.
In some states such as California, the law requires police officers to continuously watch a DWI suspect for a minimum of 15 to 20 minutes prior to administering a breath test to ensure that the suspect does not consume anything, hiccup, belch, burp, or regurgitate – as any of these actions may result in alcohol traveling from the stomach to the mouth and triggering a false BAC reading.
Mouth Alcohol as a DWI Defense
The presence of mouth alcohol may be a defense to a drunk driving charge. If you have been charged with DWI and you feel that the results of your breath test were inaccurate, consult with the best DWI attorney you can find as soon as possible.
A DWI attorney may be able to question the validity of your breath test results. While a mouth alcohol defense may not lead to your case being thrown out of court, it may create reasonable doubt in the jurors’ minds and potentially lead to an acquittal.
Source: Mouth Alcohol Defenses, published on http://www.mouthalcohol.com/mouthalcoholdefenses.html.