No one wants to be embarrassed by a foul odor coming from their mouth while speaking which is why it is vital to find an effective bad breath product. But if you hop online and start searching for a bad breath solution, the choices are almost endless. For this very reason, most of us opt instead to just pick up some breath mints and pop one in every few hours to keep bad breath problems in check.
Unfortunately, such short-term solutions really are no solution when it comes to preventing halitosis because the condition may be caused by a number of factors that a breath mint can only mask temporarily. In the end, the problem will probably return at the most embarrassing time possible and we will not have a breath mint to cover it up. Some of the possible causes of bad breath include:
- Dry Mouth
- Acid Reflux
- Food
- Low-carb diet
Only in the case of dry mouth will a breath mint be an effective when trying to get rid of bad breath. This is because sucking on a breath mint or similar bad breath products help to stimulate the production of saliva. The importance of saliva in bad breath prevention has four distinct components:
- Washes away food particles that anaerobic bacteria feed upon
- Helps remove the VSC’s (the sulfur compounds secreted by bacteria as waste products and the actual agents responsible for the odor associated with bad breath)
- Is loaded with oxygen. The bacteria responsible for bad breath problems do not reproduce rapidly in well-oxygenated mouths so having plenty of saliva in your mouth may seem disgusting—but it prevent those bacteria from producing the VSC’s that cause our breath to stink and embarrass us!
- Has enzymes that will stimulate the production of antibodies that seek out and destroy anaerobic bacteria responsible for bad breath symptoms
So, any bad breath products that cause dehydration (and thus a reduction in the amount of saliva in your mouth available to help control and wash away the harmful bacteria) are ultimately harmful to the cause because they actually make matters worse. Even if you use a bad breath toothpaste that helps neutralize the anaerobic bacteria in one big blast, the population recovers quickly—especially when there is no saliva to control their growth.
Any bad breath treatments should be free from alcohol as it is a known diuretic and bound to cause problems with dry mouth. However, you do want products that will help neutralize the bacteria and according to a recent bad breath report, these are some of the best ingredients to look for:
- Chlorine Dioxide
- Sodium Chlorite
- Zinc
Again, while many bad breath products come in the form of antiseptic mouthwashes, these remedies neither reduce the VSC’s that actually cause the odor and they are likely to lead to a dry mouth and even more problems with halitosis later on in the day.
