Australian Dentist Treats Bad Breath (Halitosis)

Australian Dentist Treats Bad Breath (Halitosis)

An Australian dentist who in defiance of the economic gloom is expanding his clinics offshore, may have the ultimate "recession-proof" industry - treating bad breath.

Dr Geoffrey Speiser, who has clinics in Sydney and Melbourne, opened a new centre in Malaysia last month and another will follow in Manchester, northern England in April.

He says internet sales of his treatments to kill off problem bacteria in patients' mouths have not declined despite the souring of the global economy in recent months.

"Health has always been a recession-proof industry and I think with dentistry, in general, people say 'I'm not going to do cosmetic work', but they'll always do what they see as health or functional work," Dr Speiser says.

"There is no drop-off in people ordering products ... the UK has stayed the same, if not got better, in this recessionary time."

Dr Speiser's Australian Breath Clinic has been selling treatments over the internet since the late 1990s, and the new offshore clinics will provide a physical presence in growing markets.

They are also a vital part of the treatment process, as patients can have their breath analysed using a machine which can detect, in minute quantities, the chemicals responsible for bad breath.

These are hydrogen sulphide "which smells of rotten eggs", Dr Speiser says, methyl mercaptan "smells of faeces" and dimethyl sulphide "smells of cabbage or gasoline".

The machine takes a sample of breath and vapourises it, causing the chemical compounds within to give off unique electric pulses.

"The machine has been calibrated to look for the pulses of those particular gases ... the human nose probably can't smell under a hundred parts per billion and we can get this machine down to one part per billion," he says.

Knowing which gases are coming from a person's mouth is important because it allows Dr Speiser to then target the bacteria responsible.

He has also developed powdered mouth washes to kill off the different types of bacteria, which give off the tell-tale gases as they break down protein.

Dr Speiser says up to 30 per cent of Australian adults suffer from chronic bad breath, meaning tooth brushing or conventional mouth washes may temporarily mask but not fix the problem.

"It's sometimes a health issue, a lot of times its a lifestyle issue," he also says.

"(A diet) high in proteins, alcohol and mouth washes, recreational drugs, all of those things are drying up and ruining good saliva, and saliva is the thing that keeps the mouth in balance."

Source: WA Today - http://www.watoday.com.au/national/australian-dentist-treats-bad-breath-20090225-8hq2.html

Discover how I cured my nasty Bad Breath here.

Australian Dentist Treats Bad Breath (Halitosis)