Bad breath or halitosis has been a problem for mankind since the beginning of recorded history. Never before have there been effective treatments for bad breath / halitosis until now. Most people will notice the advertising media is saturated with products promoted to help with this condition. Most, if not all of them, really do not work for very long and some even make the bad breath worse. For example, alcohol based mouthwashes can dry out the tissues in the mouth and cause the tissues to secrete plasma proteins which worsen the halitosis over time. Odors coming from the stomach are almost never the cause of chronic bad breath. It is estimated that nearly 60 million people suffer from chronic halitosis in the United States. It is also estimated that nearly ten billion dollars a year are spent to treat halitosis; most of it wasted. It is estimated by many experts in the field that 85% to 90% of the bad breath conditions come from sources in the mouth. It is not correct to say that it is primarily caused by gum diseases as some will tell you. Gum disease can be and is a significant cause of halitosis for many, but recent research has confirmed that the vast majority of bad breath originates from accumulated bacterial plaques and food coated on the back of the tongue. Since significant numbers of patients can have gum disease as a contributing factor to halitosis, it is important that a dentist diagnose a person’s condition to see if that is the cause. With the help of a gas measuring machine called a Halimeter dentists, health care providers who possess the machine and know how to use it can measure gases coming from the putrefaction of bacteria in the mouth called volatile sulfur gases or VSCs. These are compounds containing sulfur and include hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan, the two most plentiful bad breath gases in human exhaled air. Hydrogen sulfide is the "rotten egg" smell. With this machine, health professionals can more easily locate where the gases are coming from and can see if the measurements are actually decreasing over time with treatments. Other gases (VOCs or volatile organic compounds) that can cause bad breath are the polyamines such as putrescine and cadaverine.
The usual treatment of the condition includes the use of compounds containing some kind of chlorine dioxide or combination of chlorine dioxide and chemically altered forms of oxychlorine species and also zinc compounds. The VSCs are then chemically changed into harmless compounds with no odor by the use of toothpastes and mouth rinses containing those oxchloride species. Treatment should also include tongue scrapping with specific instruments to remove the coating of white plaque. This not only removes the odor causing agents but lowers the overall bacteria count in the mouth which can have positive effects on the health of the gum tissues.
If periodontal disease is present as a cause, some of the pockets around the teeth must be cleaned out to rid the source of bacteria putrefaction causing odor and disease there. The periodontal disease must be treated by a dentist or periodontist. Support for this treatment may include suppression of bacteria induced collagenase enzymes which destroy collagen in the gum tissues. I believe that can be helped by removing the VSCs in the gum tissue. Stabilized chlorine dioxide has the ability to reduce VSCs and although the company making these products does not claim it will help cure gum disease, I personally have observed it help my patients with gum infections. Another product which can help with reducing collagenase activity in the gum tissues is the drug Periostat. You can get information on that product and a very good explanation of periodontal disease by going to their web site.
Additional help with flushing out bacteria can be accomplished with special ionizing mechanical irrigators, which automatically pulse water with an electric charge, and the use of fine tipped canulas attached to the irrigators can be placed into the pockets around the gum to rinse them out. The patient cannot feel the electric charge. The patient needs a dentists or hygienist to help teach them how to do this. The ionized water helps cause the roots of the teeth to attract less plaque. Adding the stabilized chlorine dioxide and zinc acetate rinses to the water adds even more effectiveness to this irrigation.
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