We all know that bad breath is associated with poor oral hygiene. At a minimum, you need to brush and floss twice a day. Otherwise, food & debris will accumulate between your teeth and gums, in which bacteria will grow and flourish, giving off a very unpleasant smell whenever you’re breathing or trying to talk to someone.
We want to re-iterate the fact that proper hygiene consists of brushing your teeth, gums, AND tongue with a fluoride based toothpaste (our recommended is sensodyne after every meal along with flossing both when you wake up and before you go to bed to avoid tar tar build up in your mouth.
In addition to the daily maintenance of hygiene, we also recommend rinsing out with an anti-bacterial mouthwash. They are designed to kill any bacteria in your mouth that could possibly give you bad breath.
What’s in mouthwash that gives them the anti-bacterial properties they have to kill bacteria?
Mouthwash typically contains chemicals such as chlorhexidine, cetylpyridinium chloride, chlorine dioxide, zinc chloride, and triclosan. Washing with mouthwash with the mentioned chemicals will kill & limit bacterial growth, combined with brushing with a fluoride tooth paste will ensure strong tooth enamel and mitigate the risk for tooth decay. Additionally, astringent salts in mouthwash can act as deodorizers and odor neutralizing that are also present can break down the odor causing compounds in your mouth.
Most chlorhexidine based mouthwashes give a feeling of burning in the mouth. To some that have a higher pain tolerance, you might like this feeling as it affirms the fact that its killing the bacteria in your mouth. This is due to the alcohol that mouthwashes include as their active ingredient in bacteria removal.
Scared of the “studies” that you’ve read showing that mouthwash use can be related to oral cancer? Forget it. We like to disapprove general “studies” as there are obvious “studies” out there that show that homework leads to stress or ones that make no sense such as “women have low sex drives”.
However, its been a known fact that daily mouthwash use in individuals are associated with cleaner fresher breath, then those who don’t use it. If you really want proof of this, try it. Want even more confirmation? See your dentist, and ask them what they recommend. From experience, we’ve seen they recommend Listerine, as the primary brand for mouthwash.
In short, true or false? We say true.
If you thought the information presented in this page was useful and are experiencing symptoms of bad breath, check out Bad Breath Free Forever – a detailed program which targets bad breath at the source of what is causing it, not just covering it up symptoms with a bandaid like rinsing out with mouthwash.