Finally, A Breath Mint That Does What It's Supposed To
© Copyright 2005 Dr. Harold Katz
One weekend you get together with friends for dinner
at a delectable restaurant that serves cheese fondue,
and you have a martini to cap it off. You want to make
sure you have fresh breath, so after dinner you pop in
an Altoids or other similar breath mint. Although you
may now have a cinnamon-like taste in your mouth,
what you've really done is made your bad breath
problem much worse. Let me explain...
All the "breath mint candies" that you're used to
seeing in the stores (Altoids, Tic-Tacs, Certs, Ice
Breakers, etc...) all commit some kind of fatal mistake in
the documented science of creating fresh breath. You
see, by now the academic halitosis community knows
the causes of bad breath...and we also know the exact
conditions that create an oral environment in your
mouth that is more likely to produce bad breath.
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SITUATIONAL BAD BREATH AND
WHAT TRIGGERS IT
A common type of bad breath that occurs in 99.9% of
the world population, at one time or another, is
situational bad breath. It happens when someone
activates what is called a "trigger" which causes the
oral environment in their mouth to become more likely
for the anaerobic bacteria to begin creating the volatile
sulfur compounds (VSC's) that cause bad breath.
In scientific terms, when your mouth encounters one of
these triggers, it creates an oral environment that
encourages the anaerobic bacteria to begin extracting
sulfur compounds from specific amino acids. One amino
acid called Cysteine, turns into Hydrogen Sulfide, which
has a rotten-egg smell. Another amino acid,
Methionine, becomes Methyl Mercaptan which smells
sort of like dirty socks.
What are the common bad
breath triggers? They include foods that are high in
protein, alcohol, medication with dry mouth side
effects, smoking, garlic, onions, coffee, citrus juice, and
sugar.
WHY DID THE 'BREATH MINT CANDY' AFTER DINNER
NOT WORK AT REFRESHING YOUR BREATH?
During dinner you introduced two "triggers" to your
mouth (protein and alcohol) that weren't previously
there. These triggers make your oral environment very
eager to begin creating foul-smelling VSC's (volatile
sulfur compounds). Thus, the process of producing bad
breath began.
Wouldn't you think that a breath mint would contain
ingredients that make this oral environment less likely
to happen? At the very least, there shouldn't be
anything in a breath mint that would make that oral
environment worse right?
SO, WHAT MAKES A BREATH MINT ACTUALLY
NEUTRALIZE BAD BREATH REDUCTION?
First, you need a breath mint that does not contain
sugar - your breath mint should NEVER have sugar as
an ingredient. Rather, the ingredient xylitol should be
used. Xylitol is a NATURAL sweetener and has also
been proven to have tremendous anti-decay
properties.
Next your breath mint should also contain zinc
gluconate. This ingredient literally puts a "straight-
jacket" around those bad breath producing anaerobic
bacteria. Specifically, it blocks the receptors on the
anaerobic bacteria so that they don't bind with the
amino acids thus preventing the production of VSC's
(volatile sulfur compounds), which causes bad breath!
Remember, your breath mint should be free of
aspartame, saccharin, and artificial colors or flavors. Do
you see where I'm getting at? The top breath mint
fresheners on the market ALL contain either sugar, or
an artificial flavor that is designed to cover up rather
than prevent bad breath and taste.
WHAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE? WHAT BREATH MINTS DO I
RECOMMEND?
One that contains none of these
ineffective ingredients but does contain all of the good
ones, Oxygen, and Xylitol they are
literally the most effective breath mint available.
About the Author
Dr. Harold Katz
