If you’ve ever found yourself in a situation where you felt uncomfortable talking to someone because you are unsure if your breath is fresh enough, you understand how difficult it could be for a person who spends a large portion of their time dealing with halitosis.
This condition afflicts a large amount of the population, and can be socially crippling for some, but what can you do? Here we will be exploring one method to fight halitosis.
How It Gets Bad
When bacteria colonies in your mouth get to be too out of control, the waste products that they create become very detectable because of the odors that they put out. Bacteria bind themselves to proteins and convert them into a sulfur gas, which is the primary source of bad smells that come from the mouth.
This is the cause of the rotten smell that resembles the smell of rotten eggs. It is fairly obvious that this isn’t something that you would want, but what can you do about this?
High Zinc Mouthwash
Typical mouthwashes are full of alcohol and sugars that can dry out your mouth and create a situation far worse than where you started. For a mouthwash to be truly effective, it should contain some form of zinc to naturally combat bacterial growth.
Zinc can also be used in tandem with other natural agents to kill or limit the growth of bacteria in the mouth. This is done by its process of binding to proteins to block the bacteria ability to produce sulfur. This will have a much more lasting effect that results in fighting mouth odors.
Zinc Rich Foods
As an important mineral, zinc plays a massive role in nutrition. Other than receiving zinc in mouthwash or in pill form, you can get a much needed dose of zinc through your food. Foods like spinach, flax seeds, kidney beans, and cashews can help you to get the zinc that you need.
Since there are small amounts of zinc in all of these foods, you don’t need to get all of the zinc in one meal. You can easily consume small amounts of zinc through your day. A good amount of zinc in your system will help your mouth to heal, and fight infections caused by microbes.
In addition to these methods with zinc, you should also consult your dentist for other remedies.
