Bad Breath Eraser

If you suffer from bad breath, one of the first products you may reach for in an attempt to get rid of the rotten smell coming from your mouth is mouthwash.

Nowadays, there are loads of different brands of mouthwash on the market, each promising to help your halitosis.

But - do they really work or are bad breath mouthrinses a rip off?

This article looks at this very question, and explains why your hard-earned cash may just be better spent elsewhere…

Why Some Dental Experts Believe Bad Breath Mouthrinses Can Actually Make Your Mouth Smell Even Worse

The number 1 cause of most bad breath cases are bacteria which we all have in our mouths.

Despite their ominous-sounding nature, you actually need these bacteria to help break down the proteins in the foods you eat, and in regular amounts they usually present no problems. However, when these bacteria multiply to abnormally high levels, halitosis can occur.

One of the factors which can aggravate these bacteria and stimulate them into multiplying is a dry mouth. But where do mouthwashes come into the picture?

Well, many brands of mouthwash have a high alcohol content - up to 25% in some of the leading brands.

Alcohol is a dessicant - i.e. a drying agent. It dehydrates you and causes your mouth to dry out quite badly.

So, when you take a big swig of mouthwash it may initially be successful in masking any bad smells. But once these effects wear off, essentially you’re left with a dried out mouth and dried out saliva glands - the ideal breeding ground for these bacteria to increase in very large numbers.

Over time this whole process can turn into a vicious circle. You use the mouthwash to get rid of your bad breath, but it actually causes more bacteria to flourish, leading to even more bad breath. And so it goes on…

And even though many brands of mouthrinses cost as little as a few dollars, add up the cost of using them continuously and you may well be surprised at just how much you’re actually spending.

So Why Are Mouthwashes On Sale If They’re Not Actually Much Good?

Well of course, as expected many manufacturers claim they’ve conducted their own research into the effects of mouthwash and that their products DON’T dry out your mouth, but in actual fact can help stimulate your salivary glands.

But who is right?

Well, I guess the best way to answer the question is to examine whether long-term use of mouthrinses has had any positive effect on your own bad breath problem.

If you’ve been using them for a while now and you’re not seeing any major improvement in getting rid of your halitosis, then you’ve probably got your answer.

A more effective approach instead may be to look at ways of preventing the bacteria in your mouth from multiplying to the levels that can lead to bad breath in the first place.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 4th, 2008 at 9:06 am and is filed under Bad Breath Cures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.