Contents
*Overview of the best according to the editors of Healthy Food Near Me. About selection criteria. This material is subjective, is not an advertisement and does not serve as a guide to the purchase. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.
Ever since man became a civilized being, ever since society appeared, and the order of behavior in it, there has been a need to look noble and beautiful, to be well-groomed, and to smell good. Many will be surprised, but even 2200 years ago, the ancient Roman writer Apuleius argued that “nothing is so contrary to the appearance of a secular, noble person as halitosis.” Yes, this seemingly insignificant fact alone can nullify both the luxury of the outfit and refined manners.
The owner of a bad smell will be subconsciously avoided, despite the power of logical reasoning, which at the same time can be flawless. Escape from a bad smell is not controlled by logic and reason, it is subconscious, and forms the same unconscious impression of a bad-smelling person.
In some cases, the cause of an unpleasant odor is purely local factors that are quite easy to deal with. An example may be the lack of oral hygiene or incorrect and irregular use of its methods and methods.
Breath smells bad only when certain chemical reactions are taking place. If a person has eaten onions or garlic, then his mouth will smell strongly, but this smell will be quite specific, and therefore not particularly repulsive, not “sick”. And it’s very easy to get rid of it. Once a person has eaten onions or garlic, then it is worth rinsing your mouth and brushing your teeth, and after a while everything will return to normal. But in the case of halitosis (namely, this is the name of this disease), it is impossible to accurately determine the bad smell. The fact is that the waste products of bacteria and anaerobic microorganisms that live in an unhealthy oral cavity when interacting with saliva are dozens of different compounds, and almost all of them have an unpleasant odor. When all these “flavors” are superimposed on each other, then an unbearable smell from the mouth is formed.
In some cases, halitosis is caused not by local, but by general pathological processes in the body, or by various diseases. In the event that it is not possible to eliminate the unpleasant odor with the help of the drugs listed below, then some of the diseases will be discussed at the end of the article.
Halitosis is a unique condition in its own way. His symptom, that is, halitosis, does not in itself immediately lead to dangerous complaints that impair health. Halitosis does not interfere with walking, it does not increase the temperature, does not cause dizziness, it will not cause a heart attack or stroke. Moreover, if a person lives alone and secluded, like Robinson on the island before the appearance of Friday, then he does not suspect at all that he has bad breath, and he will not experience any feelings about this.
But as soon as any society appears, this phenomenon is immediately detected, and bad breath is a factor that worsens social adaptation and the quality of life in society. All other psychological problems, including intimate life, image, social position, difficulties in creating a family, are secondary. In some cases, those people whose activities are associated with intensive communication were forced, in the ineffectiveness of attempts to get rid of bad breath, even to completely change their profession. How to determine whether there is bad breath or not, but at the same time not to breathe on strangers, not to conduct unpleasant joint experiments, and not to put your loved ones in an awkward position? Yes, there are special methods.
Is there a smell or not?
Almost never a person feels the smell of his breath. The fact is that we distinguish smells by inhaling through the nose, and the air exhaled from the mouth, as a rule, does not enter the nose. Of course, you can use a special device, but even in this case, a tube taken out of the mouth directly into the nostril is unlikely to allow you to catch your own smell from the oral cavity. And here the point is not that the tube “smells by itself”, and beats off the “aroma”. Everything depends on the physiology of breathing. The sense of smell works on inspiration, the human olfactory system is arranged in such a way that the olfactory nerves transmit an active information signal to the cerebral cortex only on inspiration. When a person tries to catch his own breath, he must determine the smell on exhalation, which contradicts the physiology and the mechanism of impulse conduction. The sense of smell is out of sync with the breath, and nothing happens.
You can make it so that your own breath should be in a certain closed volume for a fraction of a second, and on the next breath it should enter the nose and be analyzed. But during this time, the smell can change, and besides, a person gets so used to his breath that he really stops feeling it.
If you are embarrassed to ask a loved one, then you can still try to determine your own breath odor yourself. The best time is the middle or the end of the day, because every morning a person brushes his teeth. You can try to determine the unpleasant smell and immediately in the morning, after waking up. Regardless of the time of the test, it is advisable not to eat for 2-3 hours, and not to use any masking agents, such as chewing gum, or perfumes, which can also affect the final result. Here are some ways:
method number one, the easiest and least effective. You can breathe into your own palms, folded in the form of a handful, and then sharply sniff their contents. In this case, the palms should not smell of anything. Therefore, if you use this method after washing your hands with soap, then nothing will work;
method two: you can simply lick the clean skin of the wrist, and smell the drying skin. If there is a strong, unpleasant smell from the mouth, then it will clearly manifest itself;
Method number three is more efficient. Here we do not inhale air, but directly smell the contents of the oral cavity. An ordinary dental floss is taken, inserted into the interdental space, stretched, plaque gets on it, and then the floss can be safely smelled.
This way you can determine most of the unpleasant odors, or at least draw a qualitative conclusion: the thread smells bad or not. The only condition is the condition of the dental floss itself. If it is new, or impregnated with a special hygienic and disinfectant composition, for example, with the aroma of mint or green tea, then it will not work to determine your own smell either. Then use either ordinary thick cotton floss, or old dental floss, which has already lost the flavor of the impregnation.
Finally, you can take a hygienic cotton pad, moisten it with saliva, wrap it around a stick, and carefully wipe the tongue, the inner surface of the cheeks, and the bottom of the mouth. To do this, you can also use cotton swabs, which are sometimes, and, by the way, completely incorrectly used to clean the ears. If there is an unpleasant odor on the surface of the cotton wool, then it is necessary to proceed with active therapeutic actions.
However, it is not always necessary to use any parapharmaceuticals or medications to eliminate bad breath. There are certain conditions and diseases in which bad breath appears only periodically. When it’s possible?
When the smell goes away
In some cases, no special treatment is required, and sometimes only dynamic observation is sufficient. In what cases does a person’s mouth smell unpleasant, or somehow special? Here are some classic examples. But we immediately omit from this list the obvious fact of the smell that comes from a tobacco smoker and other mixtures. Naturally, this smell is clear to everyone and quickly determined, and if you give up this bad habit, then the whole problem will disappear by itself. It can smell from the mouth in a special way from a hungry or starving person. This is not at all due to the expenditure of stored energy in the form of animal starch glycogen, which is again converted into glucose in the first two days after the start of fasting. There will be no bad breath here, since a long-chain carbohydrate is consumed, which is simply “cut” into short glucose disaccharide molecules.
If a person fasts longer, which is quite possible with unloading and dietary therapy, then, starting from 3-4 days, he smells of either acetone or the smell of rotten apples. This is due to the fact that the body is extremely reluctant to switch to the utilization of fats, and when it begins, underoxidized lipolysis products, which are called “ketone bodies”, first accumulate in the blood. These are AUK, or acetoacetic acid, PIA, or oxaloacetic acid, and their analogues.
The accumulation of these products leads to the fact that acidification of the blood begins, a shift in pH to the acid side, which leads to short-term metabolic acidosis. This phase of starvation coincides with a deterioration in well-being, and soon passes as soon as the accumulation of ketone bodies in the blood, the liver begins to utilize them. This process of the beginning of the utilization of ketone bodies coincides with the end of the acidotic crisis, after which fat reserves begin to be consumed “in a planned manner”, and the condition of the starving person improves significantly.
By the way, the same smell of rotten apples or acetone sometimes comes from patients with severe diabetes. This smell from the mouth indicates a serious deterioration in the condition, and an urgent blood test for sugar, acetone, basic biochemical parameters, electrolytes, and an urgent consultation with an endocrinologist, or a call to an ambulance at home, is necessary.
In women, the smell from the mouth changes due to regular fluctuations in the concentration of the hormone in the blood plasma, due to fluctuations in the ovarian-menstrual cycle. Also, the intake of certain drugs, primarily antibiotics, corticosteroid hormones and antifungal drugs, can also lead to their release from the body with the lungs, or their increased concentrations in saliva.
You can also mention the smell of fumes, which stinks from a person in a state of hangover. Acetic aldehyde is to blame for this, as an intermediate product of undecomposed ethyl alcohol. As soon as the liver can finally process acetaldehyde into carbon dioxide and water, the unpleasant smell will disappear with itself.
Medications to combat bad breath
Turning to the description of drugs for the treatment of halitosis and the suppression of bad breath, some characteristic features of this market segment should be noted. Almost all of the products on the list are not medicines, and therefore they can be bought not only in pharmacies, but also in cosmetics stores, health products, and even in large stores of household chemicals and household goods. Preparations for stopping bad breath are presented in abundance on various Internet sites, such as Aliexpress, or the Ozon store.
The next difference between these drugs is that, as a rule, they consist of many components and do not have commercial copies or analogues, like highly effective drugs protected by patents for a certain period of time. For example, such an original drug for the treatment of inflammatory diseases of the joints, as Movalis, has an international non-proprietary name. This is meloxicam. But meloxicam is also produced in the form of a couple of dozen similar drugs by other companies, it has a lower cost than the original drug from Boehringer Ingelheim. These are the so-called generics, or trade names.
In the case of drugs for the treatment of halitosis, there are no commercial copies, since there is no single substance that is patented and included in pharmacopoeias. The bad breath market is a parapharmaceutical market, not a drug market. However, in this list we have included two drugs that are sold in pharmacies: this is the immunostimulant Imudon, as well as the well-known Miramistin. Miramistin is now “a plug in every barrel”, and its sales have increased many times due to the fact that this remedy is used to prevent coronavirus infection. Each product will have a price as of early summer 2020, and in some cases will include a website address where you can purchase the bad breath product.
Review of the best mouth odor remedies
| Nomination | Place | Name | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Review of the best mouth odor remedies | 1 | Parodontax Extra 0.2% | 265 ₽ |
| 2 | Listerine “fresh mint” | 190 ₽ | |
| 3 | Halita mouthwash against halitosis | 320 ₽ | |
| 4 | Imudon | 310 ₽ | |
| 5 | Miramistine | 385 ₽ |
Parodontax Extra 0.2%
Rating: 4.9
The first of these universal preparations will be Parodontax Extra without ethyl alcohol. The active ingredient in this rinse is the well-known antiseptic chlorhexidine, at a concentration of 0,2%, in the form of bigluconate. Chlorhexidine exhibits known activity, both bactericidal and bacteriostatic against many microorganisms that make up dental plaque. This is an aerobic and anaerobic flora, in some cases opportunistic, for example, cocci, yeast, some fungi, such as Candida albicans. These bacteria can cause dental disease, irritation and inflammation of the gums, i.e. gingivitis, and cause halitosis, i.e. halitosis. Most microorganisms do not have resistance to chlorhexidine, and it kills microbes in a matter of tens of seconds.
Parodontax Extra rinse also contains various ingredients that coat the teeth and gums and protect them for half a day after a single rinse. Parodontax Extra rinse can also be prescribed by a dentist for a course of treatment, usually this period is from 2 to 4 weeks, but not longer than a month. Rinse should be used by rinsing the mouth with one cap of the product for at least a minute, twice a day. For example, in the morning, after brushing your teeth and oral hygiene, and before going to bed, as well as after eating.
The cost of Parodontax Extra rinse without ethyl alcohol on the popular Ozone online store is 246 rubles. for a bottle of 500 ml, which will last a long time.
Advantages and disadvantages
Parodontax Extra does not contain ethyl alcohol, it does not contain any fragrance, so it is quite suitable for people with allergies to various fragrances. However, if used too often and overused, it can cause temporary discoloration of the tooth enamel or tongue. This risk of staining can be reduced by not drinking strong tea, coffee, or red wine within an hour of using the rinse. Also, the funds are contraindicated for allergies and intolerance to chlorhexidine, but it is rare.
In addition to halitosis, Parodontax Extra is successfully used for the prevention of periodontal disease, periodontitis and gingivitis. It can also be used as a preventive measure before and after tooth extraction and visits to a dentist or surgeon.
Listerine “fresh mint”
Rating: 4.8
The second popular bad breath rinse on our list is Listerine, which has a fresh mint flavor. Unlike the previous remedy, the bactericidal and bacteriostatic effect in it does not depend on one substance, but on several. The active ingredients are essential oils. These are eucalyptus oil, menthol, thymol and methyl salicylate. Such a combination contributes to a pronounced bactericidal and bacteriostatic effect on pathogenic and opportunistic flora. Essential oils degrade the quality of the bacterial cell wall, and inhibit the vital activity of harmful bacteria.
To improve the quality of tooth enamel, Listerine also contains fluorine salts, which are necessary to protect against caries. Apply the product twice a day, after the morning and after the evening brushing your teeth. To do this, 20 ml, or half a cap, rinse your mouth thoroughly for 30 seconds. Listerine is produced in Italy, and you can order it in the Ozon online store, and its price for 500 ml will be 220 rubles.
Advantages and disadvantages
The drug Listerine is really capable of almost completely freeing the oral cavity from pathogenic microorganisms for several hours with a double application. In 2010 and 2011, relevant studies were carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of this rinse. The results of the study showed that Listerine is able to overcome all layers of bacterial plaque, break it down, and suppress the vital activity of pathogenic microbes, and even after a single treatment, get rid of bad breath.
Among other things, everyone can choose the Listerine mouthwash according to their own taste. Above we described Listerine with a fresh mint flavor and mild flavor, there is also Listerine “Expert Anti-Caries Protection” which also resembles sweet mint, Listerine with green tea extract, and other options. If we are talking about children, then there is a special variety for them: Listerine “Strong teeth”, and healthy gums, it can be used in children from the age of six.
Halita mouthwash against halitosis
Rating: 4.7
Consider a special rinse, which is called Halita, and it is positioned as a special remedy for bad breath. It is much more expensive than its competitors: for a 150 ml bottle you will have to pay 320 rubles. This means that each milliliter of funds costs 2 rubles. 10 kopecks, and in the previous case, the average cost was only 46 kopecks per milliliter. Thus, with equal volumes taken, Halita will cost 4,5 times more than previous rinses.
What is this drug? It is produced in Spain, it does not contain fluorine and hydroxyapatite, Halita is a glycerin-based rinse. Also included in the composition are propylene glycol, zinc lactate, chlorhexidine, gluconic acid, castor oil and other ingredients. The medicine apparently contains antiseptics in the form of chlorhexidine, and is not an abrasive.
Rinsing can also be used simply to freshen your breath after taking medication or smoking. Due to chlorhexidine, the oral cavity is disinfected for 8 hours, and the effect of chlorhexidine is enhanced by the second-line antiseptic: cetylpyridinium chloride. It acts shorter, neutralizes pathogenic microorganisms for an average of 5 hours, but at the same time it prolongs the effect of chlorhexidine. Zinc lactate is able to neutralize sulfur compounds that are formed in the oral cavity due to the vital activity of bacteria, and xylitol prevents the development of caries. Thus, a “deep echeloned” defense was built.
How to use this conditioner? Twice a day, 15 ml, you can rinse your mouth for 30 seconds. After rinsing, you do not need to eat, and to achieve the greatest effect, you need to use it in conjunction with a special tongue scraper. The medicine is not recommended for children under 6 years of age.
Advantages and disadvantages
Halita is perhaps the best product as it is formulated with multi-level protection, does not contain abrasives and gently prevents the growth of pathogenic micro-organisms. The only drawback is the relatively high price for a small volume. In pharmacies, this rinse is infrequent, but it can always be ordered on various Internet portals.
Contraindications “in children under 6 years of age” does not at all mean that the mouthwash against halitosis begins to show some harmful properties. It’s just that children around the age of six in some cases do not know how to rinse their mouth, and this will lead to the fact that they will either swallow or spit out a rather expensive rinse.
Imudon
Rating: 4.6
Consider a couple of drugs that you can, as usual, buy at a pharmacy. The first is Imudon, a drug in tablets, each tablet contains 50 g mg of a special mixture. It is a mixture of decayed or lysed microorganisms that cause the most common oral diseases such as acute periodontitis, periodontal disease, gingivitis, recurrent aphthous ulcer, inflammation of the tongue, or glossitis. Also, these microbes are to blame for the development of acute tonsillitis, chronic tonsillitis and pharyngitis. What kind of lysed microbes are contained in the tablets? These are group A pyogenic streptococci, fecal enterococci, various types of staphylococci, including aureus, Klebsiella, various types of corynebacteria and fusobacteria, a fungus – the causative agent of candidiasis. The tablet also contains a lysate of some types of lactobacilli.
The drug, when resorbed, produces a pronounced immunostimulating effect, and is widely used in otolaryngology and dentistry as an immunomodulating agent. It promotes the activation of phagocytosis, increases the number of immunocompetent cells in the oral cavity, stimulates the secretion of protective mucosal immunoglobulin, namely class A immunoglobulin, and increases the secretion of interferon and lysozyme. It is also used to eliminate bad breath, and for various inflammatory phenomena of the oral cavity associated with a violation of the rules for the operation of dentures. Imudon can be used in complex therapy, independently, and also as a preventive measure before various surgical interventions, for example, preparation for tonsillectomy.
The drug is produced by the domestic company Solway Pharma, and a package of 24 absorbable tablets will cost from 270 to 360 rubles. How to use Imudon? In acute inflammatory diseases, or exacerbation of chronic processes – 8 tablets per day. Tablets should dissolve every hour, and the duration of the course of treatment is 10 days. In the case of prophylaxis, 6 tablets per day with an interval of 2 hours are enough, and the duration of the course is 3 weeks.
Advantages and disadvantages
Imudon is the best in complex therapy. It does not contain antiseptics and disinfectants, and is aimed only at stimulating cellular and humoral immunity. But in the event that a patient with bad breath has an HIV infection, which in modern Russia has become epidemic, and sometimes even occurs in every 50th person, if there is another immunodeficiency, then the answer to Imudon, as to an immunoprovocative substance will be insignificant. And in this case, it will be necessary to use antiseptics, and other rinses, together with Imudon, which we talked about above. The medicine is quite widespread in pharmacies, it is inexpensive, but this is only at first glance. A pack of 24 tablets is enough for only 3 or 4 days, and then, for the course, you will need to pay from 760 to 1000 rubles, and maybe even more.
Miramistine
Rating: 4.5
Miramistin, also known as benzyldimethyl-myristoylamino-propylammonium, is now experiencing a “second youth”. It used to be widely used as a means of preventing various microbial and viral infections. Miramistin inhibited the growth and development of gram-positive, gram-negative, anaerobic and aerobic microbes, has an antifungal effect against yeast, dermatophytes and various pathogenic fungi. Miramistin was also active against viruses, including the HIV virus and herpes.
But now his field has expanded: the drug has become very widely used for injection into the nasal passages and irrigation of the back of the pharynx before visiting public places during the epidemic of coronavirus infection. Therefore, Miramistin’s sales volume increased sharply. In addition, Miramistin perfectly helps with emergency prevention of sexually transmitted diseases by introducing it into the vagina or inside the urethra in men using installations, if the time has not exceeded 2 hours.
Miramistin is applied topically, prevents suppuration of burns and wounds, improves regeneration and stimulates the immune system. At the same time, the medicine does not cause allergies, and does not irritate locally. In fact, Miramistin can be considered a kind of panacea, and it is used, including in the treatment of prevention of ENT diseases. These are tonsillitis, laryngitis and pharyngitis. Miramistin is used for inflammation of the tongue, with gingivitis and various stomatitis.
Of course, it is used for hygienic treatment of dentures, as well as bad breath caused by a variety of reasons. After all, first of all, we have the right to think about oral dysbacteriosis, and only then about systemic pathology. Therefore, Miramistin can be used to irrigate the oral cavity, or even rinse with a product in a volume of 10-15 ml 3 to 4 times a day.
Miramistin is produced by the well-known Domestic company Infamed, and for rinsing it is better to take a large bottle of 500 ml with the possibility of spraying with a special nozzle. In absolute terms, Miramistin is the most expensive drug on the list of drugs to eliminate bad breath. Due to the increased demand, it can be purchased at a pharmacy at a price of 750 to 1400 rubles. for a volume of 500 ml.
Advantages and disadvantages
If you calculate, then the price of Miramistin will be approximately the same as the price of ml of the most expensive mouthwash, namely Halita, – 2 rubles. 40 kopecks per 1 ml. But at the same time, Miramistin can be used in a home first-aid kit for a variety of purposes, for treating wounds, as vaginal irrigation, for the prevention of sexual diseases, and even for instillation into the eyes in various incidents, injuries, insects on the conjunctiva, with suppuration, and in other cases. For the eyes, they even produce a special Miramistin in drops, which is called Okomistin. Therefore, in the home medicine cabinet, this drug will never be superfluous. The medicine is very well tolerated, it has practically no side effects and contraindications, it can be used in pregnant women and when breastfeeding.
Additional tips
Finally, in conclusion, it is necessary to talk about the rules for oral care in order to get rid of the unpleasant odor caused by plaque and violation of hygiene rules:
teeth should be brushed twice a day, and sometimes even after meals. The paste should be fluorine-containing, and it is desirable that it is not a strong abrasive;
after cleaning the teeth, you need to gently clean the tongue, and in the intervals between brushing your teeth, use dental floss if it is impossible to brush your teeth after eating;
twice a year it is necessary to visit the dentist for prophylaxis;
to reliably verify the presence of an unpleasant odor, it is necessary to abandon strong-smelling foods, a large amount of spices, drinks such as strong coffee and alcohol;
you need to stop smoking, and even more so, chew tobacco, drink a large amount of Coca-Cola, which destroys enamel due to the content of orthophosphoric acid;
you need to drink more pure water. Drinking water prevents the mouth from drying out, and washes away bacteria, as well as dead epithelial cells that can be food for microbes. If there is no dental floss, if it is not possible to brush your teeth after eating, you can simply rinse your mouth with clean water several times, this can be of great help in fighting infections;
choose toothbrushes according to the recommendation of the dentist. If you’re up to date with the times, then an ultrasonic toothbrush may come in handy, as its bristles can clean up food debris from hard-to-reach places. For undisciplined people, an ultrasonic toothbrush is equipped with a timer that will not allow you to finish the procedure before the due date.
If, in addition to bad breath, there are bad teeth and gums are inflamed, then it is necessary to first completely sanitize the oral cavity, and only then deal with the problem of restoring fresh breath. In conclusion, we list those diseases that should be excluded with persistent, persistent bad breath from the mouth.
If all the ways are in vain
If you have completely cured bad teeth, sanitized the oral cavity, used a mouthwash, visited the dentist twice a year and all in vain, then you need to look for the cause in other diseases. If everything is fine with dentistry, then you need to visit an ENT doctor and take swabs from the tonsils. It is known that chronic tonsillitis can be accompanied by bad breath.
In some cases, an ultrasound of the salivary glands will be required, especially if there is a feeling of dryness in the oral cavity and insufficient saliva is produced. Causes may be a salivary stone, or sialolith, which clogs the excretory ducts of the salivary glands. The cause may be chronic atrophic rhinitis, polyposis, and stagnation of secretions in the sinuses of the nose, which descends through the choanas to the back of the pharynx and penetrate into the oral cavity.
Sometimes bad breath can be released along with the breath, with destructive processes in the lungs. It can be infected sputum, or severe pathology, for example, putrefactive decay processes in the lungs.
Bad breath can come from the organs of the gastrointestinal tract. But air will never get out if there is no belching, and each episode of belching, or rather, its approach, can be felt in advance and prevented. Therefore, a constant smell with a normal, closed esophageal sphincter will not come from a person. Such an odor is possible only with vomiting, constant belching, or severe coughing, a concomitant violation of the esophageal and cardiac sphincter.
Finally, do not forget about metabolic diseases. Many people do not tolerate gluten, lactose, some vegetable proteins, and in patients with diabetes, if they feel worse, the smell of rotten fruit and acetone from the mouth may appear.
Attention! This material is subjective, is not an advertisement and does not serve as a guide to the purchase. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.