Halitosis - Bad Breath Cure

 Halitosis or bad breath causes, treatment, cure, the relation between dry mouth and chronic halitosis and its treatment or cure is the subject of this hub. Although searching the web may offer you a detailed information on the subject, or even a free report that can be helpful as a manual, yet the information here is condensed so that to give you the distilled information required to deal with this annoying subject.

Revising the composition of a bad breath, we find it to contain chemicals that are present in the most dirty things. You can find a mixture of odors of rotten eggs, corpses (yes you read it correctly!), stinky smell emanating from feed lots and barnyards, foul odor of decaying meat, fecal smell, and stinky old socks.

As no one is an exception, then it "lives" with human beings, you guessed it, bacteria. Bacterial metabolism produces gases that have these foul odors in the place they live in, and being volatile, these gases evolve in the surroundings.This type of bacteria is anaerobic bacteria, meaning that it only lives in an environment that is devoid of oxygen, how can the mouth be devoid of oxygen will be discussed later.

There are theories that bad breath is caused by oesophageal reflux, a case in which the upper sphincter of the stomach does not close firmly, hence the contents of the stomach are exposed and the acid is regurged into the oesophagus. There is no scientific proof of this theory, although it is appealing ( doesn't belching have a bad odor?), I think the refluxed acid can participate in creating the suitable environment of growth of anaerobic bacteria, at least in part.

It is a part of the microbial flora living in the mouth cavity to help digest foods we eat. As said before, anaerobic bacteria florish in an environment that lacks oxygen, and it is the plaques that is devoid of oxygen. Plaque is the yellowish white film that forms on teeth both above and below the gum line and also on the tongue. A 0.1-0.2 ml thickness layer (or the thickness of a dollar bill) is sufficient to harness a bacteria society that produces gases that can be smelled by the surrounding people.

Anaerobic bacteria metabolize amino acids present in protein food, mucous (which is rich in sulfur), post nasal drip...etc, producing waste products that can be divided into 2 categories:

* Volatile Sulfur Compounds (VSCs) like Hydrogen Sulfide (smell of rotten egs), Methyl Mercaptan (bad odor in the barnyards), and Dimethyl Sulfide (The bad odor you associate with the ocean)

* Miscellaneous Volatile Products like Cadaverine (odor of corpses), Putrescine (odor of decaying meat), Skatole (odor of human feces), and Isovaleric acid ( odor of a stinky socks).

It is when we create the more suitable conditions that increases the intensity of bad breath, by eating certain foods and neglecting mouth hygiene.

The only rational cure of bad breath is to create an environment that is not suitable for growth of anaerobic bacteria, i.e. to introduce oxygen into their environment, thus we eradicate the cause of the smell

The best known oxygenating agents are Ozone, Chlorine Dioxide, and Sodium Chlorite. The later 2 compounds are used for decades as disinfectants. There are already some products for bad breath that contain them, do they penetrate the plaque and kill the bacteria? I do not know but they certainly will oxidize the volatile products into less offensive ones, because they have the strongest known bad odors on planet earth.

I do not recommend any product and you can search for yourself.

Many of the available treatment is aimed at reducing the odor of the mouth or its intensity, and these tips may help achieve that:

- Clean your mouth by whatever means in the morning and after eating (some people claim that alcohol in the gargle and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate(SLS) may aggravate the problem)

- Dissolve 2 TBS of table salt in 1 cup of water and use it as a gargle 2-3 times daily at least for 2 weeks

- Dissolve 1 teaspoon of Baking Soda in a cup of water, it will reduce acidity in your mouth and make it less friendly for plaque formation and bacterial growth

- Before going to bed wet your finger with Olive oil and apply it on your teeth and gums then wash your mouth (you may also use Thyme oil)

- Use Miswak (Arak) sticks to clean your mouth, or you can buy the wood of Salvadora Persica (Miswak), grind it and mix it with your regular toothpaste

- Use mothwashes containing chlorine dioxide, sodium chlorite or zinc

- Chew Parsley, Coriander, Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, Cardamon seeds, Cinnamon bark, Clove, Fennel, or Anise seeds slowly. Some of them contain antibacterial agents, freshening ingredients, and most importantly they will help build up saliva in your mouth, thus you avoid dry mouth which intensifies the odor

- Drink water many times a day

- Use Hydrogen Peroxide 3% (10 volumes) for washing mouth once in a while

- Eat Lettuce leaves after eating garlic or onion (you may also eat an apple)