The Bad Breath Blog

Due to a leak of the chemical mercaptan (according to the Frederick News Post) an odor compared to rotten cabbage has been permeating the air from West Virginia all the way to Baltimore. The Maryland Emergency Management Agency has been monitoring the mercaptan leak that originated in West Virginia. Residents may have to put up with the smell until it subsides, but luckily there is no real cause for alarm. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports that residents shouldn’t alarmed as the gas is only dangerous at very concentrated levels. The funky stench may be annoying but at least it isn’t harmful.

What is mercaptan? It’s a relatively benign chemical that is often mixed with odorless natural gas to help detect natural gas leaks. Interestingly, mercaptan is one of the main gases produced by oral bacteria to create bad breath. Just imagine when someone at the office speaks to you and you’re hit with a serious case of halitosis or morning breath – that is exactly what the residents throughout Frederick, Prince George’s and Montgomery counties have had to smell but on a larger scale, reports the Baltimore Sun.

While we can only offer sympathy to those affected by the mercaptan leak, we do have solutions for those that have the rotten cabbage smell coming from their mouths. If you have chronic or severe halitosis, we suggest trying TheraBreath’s line of TheraBreath PLUS – our most potent line for those suffering from constant problem bad breath. Is dry mouth the cause of your bad breath? You can shop by solution at www.TheraBreath.com and view our products specifically recommended to stop dry mouth.  You can customize your own products or pick one of our already configured starter kits.

Whether it’s in the air or coming from someone’s mouth, the smell of rotten anything is not pleasant. Be sure you aren’t contributing to the smell by using TheraBreath products – they are guaranteed to stop bad breath.

With the passing of Halloween, the holiday season is now in full swing.  Hanukah, Christmas and New Year’s will be here before we know it. This means celebrating and consuming large, delicious meals with family and friends. Along with food comas, bad breath may also be a side effect of these wonderful meat-filled and sugar-packed festivities.

Cavities from nibbling on the left over Halloween candy or the goodies around the office also spike around this time. Dentists report a sharp increase in the number of cavities they treat. A few pieces of candy every now and then won’t do any harm, but it is vital to maintain healthy oral hygiene, especially during this time of year.

Many of us use the holiday season as an excuse to pig out on proteins and rich, sugary desserts. (more…)

The magnolia is one of the oldest flowering tree types in the world.  Magnolia bark contains polyphenols, which have been used for centuries by Chinese and Japanese medicine.  Now, the magnolia bark chemicals have been proven to get rid of bad breath.  Research printed in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry shows that breath mints containing magnolia bark extract kill the majority of bacteria that cause tooth decay and bad breath within a half hour.  Magnolia bark extract significantly improves oral health around the world, and may be beneficial if used in chewing gum.

The mouth is an ideal environment for the bacteria that causes bad breath–especially four species of bacteria: Veilonella alcalescens, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Bacteroides melaninogenicus and Klebsiella pneumoniae.  These bacteria feed on food remains, dead cells, and other chemicals in the mouth, and in the process of their feeding, they release foul-smelling gases.  This putrefaction can lead to gum disease and tooth decay.

Regular chewing gum tends to only guard against these bacteria for a short period of time, and anti-bacterial products tend to have negative effects like tooth staining.  A team conducted a research project where they tested the power of a mint with and without the magnolia bark extract.  Without the extract, the mint destroyed just 3.6%  of the bacteria, and with the extract, 61% of the bacteria was killed. 

Furthermore, the extract has also been found to be useful for guarding against cavity-causing bacteria. 

Source: Softpedia

The advertising industry self-regulatory panel is demanding that Wrigley should change its advertising and packaging for Eclipse gum.  Specifically, they want the claims about Eclipse having a natural ingredient that kills the germs that cause halitosis (bad breath) to be removed.

An investigation was done by The National Advertising Division Council of Better Business Bureaus after a competing gum-making company, Cadbury Adams USA, challenged them.  This group analyzed the claims by Wrigley in advertisements for print and teleivision for a new version of Eclipse gum.  According to these ads, an ingredient called ‘magnolia bark extract’ kills the bacteria that causes bad breath while other types of gum soley mask bad breath.

The investigators found that the studies going into these claims might sound promising, but Wrigley’s claims in their advertisements overstated the results. 

Source: The Associated Press.  April 8, 2009.