Bad Breath Halitosis Forum

I have been suffering with BB for many years. It's certainly not something that is in my head as I have had several people tell me just how bad my breath can get.

I have not always had the best oral hygiene, but even when I use mouthwash and brush regularly, the foul odor is still there.

Normally it is not something I can detect myself. The method of cupping my hand and smelling my breath does not give me a good idea of how my breath really is.

I tend to eat a lot of mints or chew gum to cover it up while in public, but recently I have started a new job at a semiconductor plant where this is not allowed.

This new job has also opened my eyes as to exactly how bad my breath really is. I have to wear a 'clean room suit' which includes a paper face mask like a surgeon would wear. This mask does not lie about my breath; it's downright foul when I breathe out my mouth and in through my nose!

If anyone is questioning whether their BB is real, or imagined, go buy a face/dust mask for a dollar and give it a try. You will know immediately if it is real or in your head.

I have started keeping a bottle of mouthwash in my car so I can rinse after lunch, etc. I find this to be effective for only about 30-60 minutes, then the foul odor comes right back.

I am looking for a regimen that will eliminate the bacteria causing the BB. After reading a few posts here I plan to try one of the more unorthodox methods first. I will acquire some germ-x anti-bacterial hand soap and rinse with that to see if I can kill most of the bacteria in my mouth. After that I may try that k12 stuff from therabreath to see if I can get some 'good' bacteria floating around in there.

If anyone has some suggestions I would be happy to hear them. I will post back with results as they become available.

Moloch wrote:I am looking for a regimen that will eliminate the bacteria causing the BB.

There is no magic pill or mouthwash that will eliminate the bacteria once and for all.

Bad breath bacteria need two things to work their misery:

A) a hospitable environment

B) a food source

Unfortunately our mouths are pretty hospitable places for bacteria by nature and there little we can do to change that (the only major exception to that is dry mouth, which we can change). So the only part you really have control over is limiting their food source.

The most obvious way to do this to practice excellent oral hygiene: thorough, comprehensive brushing, flossing and tongue scraping should be the order of the day. If this isn't all that it could be start here.

If you don't see genuine improvement with your best effort at hygiene it may be that your best won't ever be good enough because you have a particular oral anatomy that is trapping food debris in a place yet out of your furthest brushing/flossing/scraping reach.

Only a dentist, oral surgeon or ear-nose-throat physician can surgically alter or otherwise remove entirely the offending part of your anatomy trapping the food debris out of your arm's cleaning reach. Examples of these surgeries include tonsillectomy and wisdom teeth extraction, among some others.