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Bad breath is not a good thing to have. In fact, it’s one of my pet peeves.
Sometimes, brushing your teeth won’t be enough to get rid of the smell of certain foods, like onions and garlic. When this happens, most people resort to using a mouthwash.
But before you open that bottle of Listerine, here’s something to think about: a new report from Australia is suggesting that antiseptic mouthwashes may kill something other than bacteria – mouthwashes may kill you!
An article published in this month’s issue of the Dental Journal of Australia reports that there is “sufficient evidence” showing that alcohol-based mouthwashes, including Listerine, increases the risk of oral cancer by 900 percent!
According to the article, ethanol in mouthwash allows cancer-causing substances to permeate the lining of the mouth more easily.
Acetaldehyde, a toxic by-product of alcohol that may accumulate in the oral cavity when you gargle with mouthwash, is also believed to be a carcinogen.
Professor Michael McCullough, an associate professor of oral medicine at the University of Melbourne and the lead author of the review, recommends that mouthwash containing alcohol should not be sold over-the-counter and should be reclassified as prescription-only with written health warnings.
I was shocked to read about this because I used a lot of mouthwash before when I had my braces on. But we shouldn’t be alarmed – yet. More studies in the future will either validate or disprove these findings.
Aside from increasing your risk of oral cancer, another study links mouthwash to the erosion of tooth enamel that is directly correlated to tooth sensitivity.
Oral health is more than brushing your teeth and gargling with mouthwash. In fact, conventional mouthwashes can actually make bad breath or halitosis worse by drying out saliva, which stops bacteria from accumulating in your mouth. The alcohol in most mouthwashes can also slowly break down the oral tissue.
So what can you do to keep your breath fresh and mouth healthy without using potentially harmful mouthwashes?
For Dr. Mercola, maintaining a healthy digestive system will help get rid of halitosis because an imbalance between healthy and unhealthy bacteria in the digestive tract leads to a number of health concerns, including bad breath and body odor.
Taking probiotics will give you a healthy internal balance that will not only help get rid of embarrassing bad breath but promote your overall health as well.
Dr. Mercola also points out that eating highly processed foods containing a lot of sugar and grains can cause bad breath-causing bacteria to grow out of control, so limiting your sugar intake will go a long way.
To replace conventional mouthwashes, Dr. Mercola recommends the use of herbal rinses with essential oils such as thyme, peppermint, winter green and eucalyptus. Studies show that natural mouthwashes based on these four essential oils can dramatically improve oral hygiene with regular use, reducing plaque and gingival inflammation, and can provide fresh breath for up to three hours.
Thyme oil, at very small concentrations, was found effective at killing the pathogenic organisms that cause tooth decay, gingivitis, and bad breath.
You can even make your own natural rinse by adding two drops of peppermint oil to a glass of warm water.
Here are other helpful tips that promote oral health:
- Drink plenty of water – As I’ve mentioned above, bacteria will thrive if your mouth is dry and has less saliva. Don’t give them the chance. Taking prescription drugs as antihistamines and decongestants, too much talking, exercising, dieting, smoking and drinking alcohol may also dry out your mouth so be sure to replenish the water you’ve lost.
- Eat green vegetables – they contain chlorophyll, which helps freshen your breath.
- Floss – because brushing your teeth is not enough.
- Clean your tongue – Odor-causing bacteria likes to hide within the crevices of your tongue, where they are protected by a layer of mucous, food particles and proteins. Use a tongue cleaner/scraper to remove the bacteria from your tongue and also clean near the back of your tongue (this will make you gag).
- For those who can’t brush their teeth after every meal, chew a fresh guava leaf or sugar-free gum after eating. The chewing action will help clean your teeth and stimulate the flow of saliva to help cleanse your mouth and dissolve foul-smelling sulphur compounds.
- Go to your dentist for a regular check-up at least once or twice a year.
Take good care of your oral health to prevent diseases in your mouth because oral health can also affect the overall health of your body. If you don’t, bad breath will be the least of your problems.
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