Zinc - makes bb worse?

[hope4now]

I've been on 7.5 mg zinc oxide per day (in a multiple supplement with 500 mg calcium carbonate and 250 mg magnesium oxide) for a couple of days. It seems to be making my bb worse. Could this be a case of getting worse before it gets better? I thought zinc was supposed to improve bb by interfering with the bacteria's ability to produce VSCs. Has anyone else had this result with zinc? I plan to stick with it for now and see if it gets better.

[mike987]

Is there any real truth to 'getting worse before getting better'?

I almost feel like this is simply a wive's tale that everyone likes to talk about... but does anyone have any real experiences with this or is it just rumor?

Something I've heard about Zinc is that it interferes with your sense of taste.. Perhaps it's dulling your senses to the BB, but doesn't do anything to stop other people from sensing it.

[halitosisux]

Does this zinc supplement come into contact with your oral bacteria or are they in some kind of capsule that goes straight down? If it's not coming in contact with your oral bacteria, it's unlikely to do anything at all.

Zinc most certainly interferes with the ability of bacteria to produce it's bad smells. The only problem is that it will only affect the bacteria which are present at the time they are exposed to the zinc. New bacteria which form are completely unaffected, and we all know the rate at which new bacteria are formed.

Zinc containing products never did a lot for me, but the only thing that did was crushing a zinc citrate tablet and scrubbing it into my tongue. I'd end up with no production of VSCs for many hours, but there'd be a slightly strange sulphur type taste in the mouth, similar to what certain antibiotics can cause. But overall it felt a lot cleaner in my mouth. Definitely worth a try if you haven't already tried using zinc. And btw if you swallow too much zinc it can make you feel slightly nauseous, especially if you have too much, so try to rinse it away unless you only use one tablet for this.