To chew gum or not to chew gum?

[thanatos]

[waitingforrelief]

good question thanatos. i'm gearing toward not chewing gum lately (used to chew gum a lot). i hate to obviously not be able to mask my breath and have the smell of mint and bb at the same time.

but sometimes i still do. i hang onto the illusion of feeling fresh and hoping that it's helping for at least the first 5 mins.

[mike987]

seems like once the flavor is gone, by chewing, you're just wafting the scent of your mouth out throw your chomps.. or maybe I'm the only one who chews gum like a cow :p

[Busted]

I always get a weird taste on the back of my tongue after I chew on a gum.

[noptical]

Chewing gum doesnt only mask the smell for a while but it also makes your mouth produce more saliva.

[hungrygirl]

Exactly!

After my mouthcare regimen, if i feel i have a bit of bad taste i go for a gum (just for the sake of people im talking with).

There is this new one, with lots of xylitol in it and its a bit lemony or what and when i put it in my mouth i start drooling...........! So have to eat it when im not talking!

But it really makes me feel fresh. Of course only for a few mins. Once the taste is gone i throw it away, but by then all that saliva did some good.

[Busted]

Chewing gum doesnt only mask the smell for a while but it also makes your mouth produce more saliva.

It stimulates the saliva flow and so does eating, that's for sure, but I'm not so sure about the masking part. I usually get a bb+mint smell. It isn't fresh alright. If it did mask the smell, I would be constantly be chewing a gum.

[thanatos]

[mel rosenberg]

Some experts are not in favor of prolonged chewing of gum. So my advice is to chew gum for 4-5 minutes, the mastication and saliva production will probably reduce cases of oral malodor for at least an hour, at which time you can chew another piece for a couple of minutes.
Again, it may be a mistake to assume that you have bad breath because of some taste in your mouth. There is no statistical correlation between mouth taste and mouth odor, at least in the research I've been involved with.

[mike987]

last night i tried chewing gum.. which i rarely do.. and my suspisions seemed true.. the gum seems to work great for about 5 minutes.. i start salivating like crazy.. but after those minutes my mouth gets even more dry than it was before i used the gum..

gah.. i don't feel good masking it anyway..

[hungrygirl]

Again, it may be a mistake to assume that you have bad breath because of some taste in your mouth. There is no statistical correlation between mouth taste and mouth odor, at least in the research I've been involved with.

Hope thats correct Mel. Can we attempt a bit of an online diagnosis?

I have tonsils and tonsilstones about 5 times a week.
I can clearly smell the tonsilstones when i swallow and breath out of my nose (among others smell too).
I have a white coating on my tongue, which does clear up after cleaning, but never from the back of my tongue.
When i touch that white coating at the back my finger smells really bad, i would say the same as tonsilstones.
I have dry mouth and not a lot of saliva.
When i do the wrist lick test, most of the time smells bad, sometimes like burnt plastic or something like that.
I have bad taste most of the time.

In your opinion, what are the chances that i DO have bead breath?

Thanks in advance.

[Busted]

First reason why I don't like to chew on a gum is because i get a really weird taste afterwards. The second reason is because a lot of people said it didn't really help make my bb better. They say it smells like bad mixed with some mint.