While we all love grandma, it is sometimes hard to take her or other people offering any bad breath herbal remedy as a potential solution to our troubles with halitosis. Entire generations drank gallons of castor oil and other questionable products all in the name of preventing or curing some disease or other—only to have such home remedies prove utterly useless in preventing what they were supposed to. Where bad breath solutions using herbal remedies are concerned, there are a few reasons why you may want to reconsider going to grandma for advice.
Anaerobic bacteria are the most common source of bad breath problems and some foods/herbs promote their growth and others actually promote it. Knowing the difference between the two extremes is critical because some remedies will actually lessen symptoms while others may simply give you one monster case of bad breath that may require the help of an entire team of dentists.
Another concern when thinking about the use of herbal cures for bad breath is that the cause of the halitosis may be some larger medical problem. Trying to use herbal remedies to prevent bad breath may cost you precious time that could otherwise be used to treat the real source of the problem. Some of the medical problems known to cause bad breath include:
- Pneumonia
- Bronchitis
- Postnasal Drip
- Sinus Infection
- Kidney Disease
- Diabetes
If you delay when treating any of these problems, the situation may worsen and even become fatal in some instances. However, it is not fair to say that herbal remedies will not serve as effective bad breath cures. If the source of the bad breath is the typical anaerobic bacteria found primarily on the back of the tongue, then the following herbal remedies should help with the problem in fairly short order:
- Cardamom Seeds
- Sunflower Seeds
- Drinking diluted natural lemon juice
- Lemon Oil
- Wintergreen Oil
- Tea Tree Oil
- Lime Oil
- Orange Oil
Essentially, for any herbal remedy to work it, must be able to effectively control the anaerobic bacteria that cause bad breath in the first place. Any herbs with natural antiseptic qualities is a good start. Also, ingredients known to contain antioxidants will also help neutralize free radicals and thus remove toxins from the body. This will increase immune system effectiveness so that there are more resources available to combat the anaerobic bacteria that cause bad breath.
Herbal remedies that help stimulate salivation are also beneficial in the fight against bad breath or halitosis. Saliva naturally helps to lower anaerobic bacteria population levels in the mouth and thus reduce the production of the sulfur compounds that are actually producing the foul odor responsible for halitosis.
While herbal remedies have proven effective in helping to get rid of anaerobic bacteria, you might try first trying to cure bad breath with hydrogen peroxide. This is far more effective in reducing bacteria levels. However, perhaps grandma knows best and her bad breath herbal remedy will prove more effective—maybe.
