Managing bad breath

Some of the people who attended the London Meet-up at the Thames Festival this year suffer from halitosis, and were very interested in getting as much information about it as possible. It is for them and all other BB sufferers that this post is created. This posts is a summary of all the information I have found in this blog and in the Body Odor Support Forum on bad breath management.

After the dentist has checked our gums and teeth, and the ENT has given us the green light stating that there are no underlying oral or nasal problems that produces BB, then we ‘enter the real BO world’ of ambiguity. All we have are theories not yet extensively tested, and management protocols based on trial an error. I will try to give the links to the sources of the various theories.

...with the exception of gum disease, the causes of halitosis come from a metabolic pathway, a gut dysbiosis, tongue plaque, and/or anaerobic bacteria.FIRST, Our expert, Arun Nagrath, the owner of the Body Odor Support Forum who organized this and many other meet-ups and has been posting in the boards for years, has personally suffered from generalized BO including breath issues. He has written some posts about it, and here are some of the links.

‘Question for Arun regarding odorous bacteria in mouth’. In this link, Arun discusses anaerobic bacteria (bacteria that live without oxygen) that grows in the back of the tongue. He talks about the limited, short-term effects of the most commonly used antibiotic for this bacteria, and he also discusses the white odorous coating on the tongue. Arun mentions how different our symptoms might be from one another, but yet he believes that it may be coming from a common metabolic pathway which is defective. He believes that with the exception of gum disease, the causes of halitosis come from a metabolic pathway, a gut dysbiosis, tongue plaque, and/or anaerobic bacteria. This is a very interesting read.

‘The role of the dorsal tongue, scraping, and bad breath’. This very interesting post in my blog discusses three studies carried out from 1992 through 1997 on the source of volatile sulphur compounds (VSC) production and tongue coating, published in The Journal of Contemporary Dental Practices. The post talks about the benefits of using acidic remedies before bedtime on the tongue after scraping like drops of lemon juice or distilled white vinegar or white apple cider vinegar, ‘The benefits of apple cider vinegar’ , and even applying vitamin C (stearic acid)directly on the tongue. There is some discussion on gargling with hydrogen peroxide after scraping the tongue. Also, see Arun’s opinion on tongue scraping, ‘What do you use to freshen your breath?’ This might explain why when you feel dehydrated and your mouth dries up too much, your odor increases.

‘From Bangkok with love!’ On this thread in the Body Odor Support Forum, Arun tells us of his experiences in Asia this past winter where he hired some people to give him feedback on his odor. He documents the feedback he got regarding his breath odor and generalized BO.

‘Effects of different mouth rinses on third molar surgery-related oral malodor’.

‘Tonsil stones / Tonsilloliths’ This is a very interesting thread on tonsil stones. It makes references to a video that shows what tonsil stones are. These are produced by the food we eat that get stuck in the crevices formed in our tonsils as a result of previous infections, and these stones made of food particles are great for breeding odorous bacteria. This is different from food particles going up toward the sinuses area and then coming back down again with the post nasal drip. The tonsil stones stay embedded in the crevices much longer than the food that goes up the back part of the through (from where the post nasal drip comes from) when we swallow.

‘Kill that nasty bacteria in the back of your tongue!’ This post talks about post nasal drip contributing to BB, the pH balance being off, as well as small particles of food sticking to the back of the tongue as we eat, contributing to a microbial imbalance with possible overgrowth of odor-producing anaerobic bacteria in the dorsal tongue. This post also discusses the benefits of tongue scraping and the use of neti pot with salt and baking soda, Neti pot for nasal irrigation or ‘Nasopure nasal irrigator’ to clear out the toxins that have accumulated in the thick mucus lining, and the salt promotes further nasal drainage (post nasal drip) for a thorough cleansing of the back of the throat and dorsal tongue. See the video for proper nasal irrigation technique. Do not pour a stream of water up your nose especially with the head tilted back, but rather let it drain out the other nostril. It is OK to allow a 'mist' or small drops to go up through the sinuses by breathing through the nose (after the water has drained through the other nostril) with the head in its normal position to cause a post-nasal drip down the back of the throat.

SECOND, We have over of 28 posts in my blog addressing halitosis discussing many scientific papers written on this subject.

‘Oral manifestations in patients with GERD’

THIRD, what my son has done to control his breath odor:

1. http://www.exit15.com/tongue-sweeper-pro-p-595.html Scrapes his tongue with a stainless steel tongue scraper. A stainless steel one is better than a plastic one because it doesn’t stain and is much more effectively sterilized with boiling water.
2. ‘Let the bacteria fight our wars’. After scraping for months, the white coating diminished and his tongue became pinkish, and his odor was almost completely gone, but not totally. So he used therapeutic dose of probiotics to let the ‘good’ bacteria fight off the ‘bad’ odor-producing bacteria by overwhelming it without the use of antibiotics. Basically, what he did at bedtime after the neti pot rinse (which he did only a few times a week – not daily) he would brush his teeth and tongue as far back as possible, scrape his tongue, and take a mouthful of the VSL#3 probiotics and keep it in his mouth when going to bed. He would keep it in his mouth as long as possible, and swallow small amounts of it very slowly. Since he didn’t like the taste or after-taste of it, he did it every other day for 20 days (or only 10 times). I believe this treatment is what finally took away his BB completely. However, if he stops scraping at least once a day, the white odorous coating begins to form again.

María