Bad Breath Halitosis Forum

Sugar is the key

Hello everyone, I haven't posted here in a long time! Like many of you, I have tried many cures only to have the bad breath return in a few days. The problem...I kept feeding the remaining bad breath bacteria with sugar and they populated my mouth all over again. Antibiotics would cure me, sugar would cause me to stink all over again. I have an imbalance of bad bacteria in my mouth due to antibiotic use as a kid. Bad Bacteria is THE cause of stinky breath. The key is killing/inhibiting the bad bacteria. This is what I do to finally achieve fresh breath for most of the day.

1. Get rid of all sugar....this means no gum, no candy, no cookies, sodas, donuts, etc. I even gave up fruit except lime, lemons and an occasional banana. No ketchup, no prepackaged foods, no dairy (lactose) no alcohol except DRY red wine ( Bordeaux, merlot, Cabernet) which actually kills bacteria (do the research) DRY red wine is perfect for a date!!!! Get rid of all mouthwash and toothpaste with sugar.this shit has kept us all on the hamster wheel. No wonder we brush our teeth and the bad breath returns in a few minutes. This includes artificial sugar, including xylitol. I don't give a f&$k what the dentist say, xylitol makes my breath STINK.

Basically I follow the low fodmap diet but I consume NO sugar, not even cane sugar. I eat NO cheese or butter, I tried to eat them but they both made my breath stink!!! I use a butter alternative which tastes exactly like butter but with NO DAIRY.

2. I floss my teeth with dental tape, not floss. Dental tape is thicker. Any tooth that stinks, I keep flossing til the smell is gone. The only time I get stinky floss is if I slip up and eat some type of sugar.

3. I brush my teeth with a mixture of salt, hydrogen peroxide, and three essential oils (peppermint, thyme oil, and eucalyptus oil) these oils are the key ingredients in listerine, all with bacteria fighting properties. I ordered all three online. Basically I take a bathroom cup and put a tablespoon of salt, add two drops peppermint, one drop of thyme and Eucalyptus oil, then add a little hydrogen peroxide (3%) to moisten. I dip my ELECTRIC toothbrush in the mixture and brush for about two minutes.

4. I take my tongue brush (I like the Orabrush) and scoop out the remaining salt mixture and spread it all over my tongue. I scrap my tongue until it's mostly pink. I add water to the cup and rinse out my mouth.

5. I fill my electric water flosser with warm water and one cap of chlorhexidine soap mixture. NOT the mouthwash because it contains sugar. I use the stuff the doctors make you scrub with prior to surgery. In the US, one brand is HIbiclens, sold at Walmart and drugstores. I recently found one sugar free Chlorhexidine mouthwash which I ordered from India. I will post an update when I receive it.

Floss your mouth with the mixture. It doesn't taste great but the taste disappears quickly. Spit out all the mixture but don't rinse your mouth. Your mouth should be nice and clean and after a few days it should stay that way all day.

6. Carry bottle water with lemon slices around with you. Sip on this throughout the day to keep your mouth moist. Eat when hungry otherwise you will have hunger breath!!!

7. If you can scrape your tongue with salt and peppermint after lunch. And of course brush your teeth before bed. I sometimes use the chlorhexidine rinse before bedtime, or you can drink the dry red wine before bed and you will have very little morning breath.

Well this is what keeps my bad breath away and I have suffered for over 45 years!!! NO SUGAR IS THE KEY. STOP FEEDING The bad bacterial!!!

When did you start this method? And what is your diet like? Bread, rice, and starchy foods turn to sugar in our bodies. Do you avoid those as well?

So i can still drink coffee if i drink it black?

I started this a little over a year ago. I read all ingredients for sugar content. For example some spices have sugar, ie "seasoning salt" I also eat no onions and garlic. I eat no bread, because of the dairy and sugar content. Rice I'm able to tolerate but I only eat it every other week (for weight reasons) corn does not give me bad breath, so I can eat popcorn, grits, and corn tortillas. Mainly I eat meat and leafy vegetables, plus green beans, tomatoes and cucumber. For breakfast, I eat bacon, avocado and eggs. For lunch turkey wrapped in lettuce with peppers and pickles. Dinner steak and sautéed spinach....snacks popcorn and nuts. I eat PLENTY...just NO sugar to feed the bacteria. I only drink lemon water and DRY red wine. Nothing else!!!

I quit coffee three years ago for other reasons. I would try the coffee with no sugar or cream, but coffee itself is known to cause bad breath.

Hi Hopefulone, thank you for this post. It's so hard dealing with this. I Will start tomorrow with a sugar free diet.

The meat you eat have no sugar at all?

Can you tel me how you prepare your food?

I think your flosser is the #1 reason. Stop or lessen sugar plays a very important role but it's probably not the primary reason why your bb is under control for pretty much everything we eat has some form of sugar in it. Bac love sugar howerver most will consume other source of energy too i.e carbs, lqours( in small amount), meats.

No I've had the water pic for many years now and still had bad breath. Yes it helped but not much. I've done many things but my breath did not get better until I stopped consuming sugar. Cane sugar, fruit sugar, sucralose, dextrose, sorbitol, xylitol. The small amount of sugar in green beans and other vegetables do not flare up my breath. Read up on the FODMAPS and you will understand. I remember having surgery and IV antibiotics, my tongue was pink and my breath was fresh. I did not eat in the hospital because I was in pain. When I got home, I was craving sugar like a crazy person. My boyfriend went to the store and bought me three big boxes of candy. My bad breath returned within two to three days. This has happened to me twice!!! The constant gum and mints has made my breath worse over the years and I didn't even know it. I haven't had gum in over a year. Hopefully one day my good bacteria will override the bad bacteria and I can eat what I want. In the meantime giving up sugar is a small price to pay plus I have no more IBS AND my skin is beautiful!!!

For some reason meat does not feed the bad bacteria in my mouth. I tried to eat beans and had bad breath for a couple of days. I just ate a beef stew with roast, carrots, turnips, greenbeans, corn, and peas...I haven't flossed yet but my breath is not bad at all. Dairy products give me bad breath for at least three days. The fodmap diet allows green onions, however they don't work for me...bad breath!!! We all probably have different species of bacteria. I stopped everything but meat and LEAFY green vegetables for about two weeks. Then I slowly added other foods one by one to gauge the reaction. So you guys may want to start there. Eat only meat and leafy green vegetables for two weeks, cleaning your teeth like described above, just to see what happens. But remember ditch the sugar toothpastes and mouthwashes!!! And no soda and alcohol especially Tequila. And no gum and mints!!! My next step is to try probiotics with no sugar. All the oral probiotics have some form of sugar. I'm gonna open a probiotic (high count) and pour into my mouth before bedtime for about a week. I'm going to us a probiotic that has the same strains as the dental probiotics L salivarus, Reuteri, planterium (sp) etc. I will report back!!,

HopefulOne just like you - I have experienced great improvements by changing my diet. My brother had been telling me for years that changing his diet had cured his BB, and I know there have been a few prior posts about this. But for whatever reason, I never took it seriously enough until a few months ago.

My only issue now though is that I am finding it very challenging to actually stick to the diet permanently. Food is definitely a huge weakness for me and I crave bad junk foods ALL the time. Giving up alcohol has been very difficult too; especially all my friends always want to party or even attending social events - people don't understand why you're not drinking and keep pestering you. Soo what has been happening is I will be good for a week - have better breath for a few days, then I'll have a huge slip up and go back to square one again. This just keeps going on over and over and I don't know how to self control myself. The fact that you have done this for a year is simply amazing and inspiring.

Any tips or tricks for how you manage to stick to the diet without slipping? Ofcourse being BB free is a lot more rewarding than any food or drink but for some reason that doesn't keep me from messing up. Any advice would help!!! I would love to go atleast one whole month without breaking the diet

I stick to the diet by sheer willpower!! I'm a lot older so it's easier for me. I've had my partying days with plenty of drinking so I'm not missing anything. Like I said stick to dry red wine and if you want hard liquor stick to gin or vodka mixed with water and squeeze in some lemon and/or lime juice. No sweet drinks especially Margaritas. My kids are grown now so I'm by myself, therefore I have no sweets, bread, candy or milk in the house...no temptations at all!!! I cook most of my meals and eat out only twice a month. I've had over 40 years of this horrible affliction and I'm determined to enjoy the rest of my life!!! I'm determined to be with my one true love, talking directly in his face and kiss him without any worries...so if that means giving up junk food that's bad for me anyway, good riddance. The cravings will leave over time and you won't miss the sugar.

Plus help from the spiritual realm....I pray and meditate on a daily basis.

Thanks so much for sharing this. I'm going on a cleanse next week consuming only vegetables and natural herbs. I will then reintroduce certain foods slowly but will omit anything with sugar content. I'm really hoping it works because I'm sick and tired of this curse.

Though you said you eat avocados and they have a bit of sugar. So is sugar okay as long as it's a small percentage? How about tomatoes?

And this is pretty much the candida diet minus the dairy and sweetners... I tried that before, just like many people. Didn't work. I wonder if the dairy and sweetners make a big difference. How long after you started this method did you see improvement with your breath?

how do you guys know when the smell is better or worse? I have no means of knowing what improves my breath or what makes it worse AS I CAN'T SMELL MY OWN BREATH. I know it reeks by the reactions I get from others. girls approach me just to turn away and never speak to me again