New Strategy For Treating Bad Breath

A New Zealand scientist has taken a unique approach to the age old problem of bad breath. Instead of focusing his efforts on disguising bad breath he has studied people with healthy, fresh breath. Noticing that those with fresh smelling breath had high levels of a certain type of bacteria, Professor John Tagg of the University of Otago, began collecting and isolating these friendly bacteria.

Professor Tagg's studies lead him to discover the special properties of a particular bacteria Streptococcus salivarius K12.This friendly bacteria has an inhibitory quality that prevents bad bacteria from multiplying and establishing colonies in the mouth. While obviously useful for treating bad breath these beneficial bacteria that inhibit pathogenic bacteria are now being researched and developed into products for treating sore throats and dental caries.

Bad breath can have a number of causes ranging from the types of food eaten, to dental hygiene issues and sinus infections. Chronic bad breath though is often caused by bad bacteria located on the tongue breaking down food and releasing foul smelling sulphur based compounds. As long as this kind of bacteria is colonized on the tongue then a bad breath problem will exist.

Gargles and mouthwashes can lower the levels of these bad bacteria but unless completely wiped out begin to re-establish themselves almost immediately. Tongue scraping can be helpful in reducing the numbers of the unfriendly bacteria. A combination of tongue scraping and mouth-washing is a better strategy because it removes debris from the tongue where bacteria can grow and then further suppresses the bacterial count chemically.

Establishing a colony of friendly bacteria such as S.s K12 is now proven as a successful strategy for treating bad breath. In a study testing the effectiveness of Strep. K12 as a treatment for bad breath the majority of participants recorded significant improvement in healthy breath scores.

Streptococcus salivarius K12 breaks down carbohydrates which produce almost no odour. Bad oral bacteria break down proteins and release bad smelling sulphurous compounds. The friendly K12 bacteria does not produce foul smelling odours and it also releases a substance that prevents bad bacteria from reproducing. This inhibitory quality is what makes K12 so valuable in treating bad breath. Originally these friendly bacteria were made into a chewing gum but more recently a lozenge seems to provide a more effective vehicle.

The best way to achieve fresh healthy breath is to use a combination of tongue scraping, mouthwash and a Streptococcus salivarius K12 lozenge. Tongue scraping removes a build-up of dead cells, bacteria and any foul smelling exudate remaining on the tongue. A high strength mouthwash after tongue scraping provides further lowering of bad bacterial numbers. Following up with a K12 lozenge replaces bad bacteria with the good kind. Remember that K12 suppresses the growth of bad bacteria. The strategy is to remove bad bacteria, replace with good bacteria that is associated with healthy breath and maintain this situation with continuous supplementation with Streptococcus salivarius K12.

This new field of medicine is called bacteriotherapy. With many antibiotics now failing to kill bacteria satisfactorily due to resistance there is a real need to work more closely with the immune system. Friendly bacteria that inhibit dangerous, infectious bacteria will become important tools in medicine. Effective treatments for bad breath like that provided by the bacteria, Streptococcus salivarius demonstrate that this form of therapy has a future.

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