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Thyme Breath Spray
For those keen to have fresh breath, James Wong (BBC 2 - Grow Your Own Drugs: Easy Recipes for Natural Remedies and Beauty Treats
) shows how to make a spray using thyme.
The recipe is listed below:
10 tbsp (approx. 25 g) fresh thyme leaves
10 tbsp (approx. 30 g) fresh mint leaves
5 fresh eucalyptus leaves
3 tsp aniseed
3 tsp cloves
200 ml vodka
Rind of 1 lemon
1 tbsp artificial sweetener to taste, if desired
4 tbsp glycerine
1. Strip the thyme, mint and eucalypytus leaves from their stems and chop. Place in a blender and whiz. Add the aniseed and cloves to the blender and whiz again.
2. Place in a dark bottle with the vodka, lemon and artificial sweetener (if using) and leave for 10 days to 1 month to macerate.
3. Strain through muslin. Add the glycerine, then stir and pour into a 50 ml spray bottle (with a yield of up to 1 ml per spray).
USE: Spray 1 millilitre into the mouth when needed
NB
This contains alcohol, so be careful not to overuse, especially if driving.
STORAGE
Keep for up to 1 year.
Discover how I cured my nasty Bad Breath here.
Thyme Breath Spray
Source: BBC 2 ( Grow Your Own Drugs: Easy Recipes for Natural Remedies and Beauty Treats ) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/growyourowndrugs/episode4.shtml
Copyright 2009
Treating Bad Breath (Halitosis) With Activated Charcoal
Activated charcoal is a supplement popular for helping clean gastrointestinal organs and the body in general. It is used to relieve painful pressure caused by excess gas in the stomach, intestines or other digestive disorders. If these gases escape into the lungs or back of the throat, Bad Breath (Halitosis) will occur.
Activated charcoal (when taken in either powder or capsule form) helps eliminate bad breath as it cleanses both the mouth and digestive tract.
Discover how I cured my nasty Bad Breath here.
Treating Bad Breath (Halitosis) With Activated Charcoal
Copyright 2009
Taking Bad Breath (Halitosis) Away
ABOUT half the population suffers from halitosis at some time. BARBARA LANTIN looks at the causes and treatments for this embarrassing complaint...
Would you know if you had Bad Breath (halitosis) ? For many years, Amy Jones suspected her breath was not as sweet as it should be but even her nearest and dearest refused to give her a straight answer to the simple question: “Does my breath smell?”
“When I went up to somebody to speak to them, I noticed that they would often put their hand over their mouth or step back,” says Amy, 57, a healthcare manager from Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire.
“I began to suspect from people’s body language that I had bad breath but when I asked one of my friends, my sister and my niece they all laughed it off. On one occasion on a car journey, my friend kept feeding me fresh-breath mints. I asked if she was doing that because my breath was offensive but she made a joke of it. I wish people could have been honest with me.”
Bad breath can often be a result of gum disease or bacteria on the tongue
Amy was careful about her oral hygiene, making regular visits to the dentist and cleaning her teeth and tongue twice a day. She also sucked mints and chewed cloves, which she had been told can help combat mouth odour.
She even broached the subject with her doctor. “He was so embarrassed; he behaved as if I had asked him to take his clothes off,” she says. “He couldn’t look me in the eye.”
Over the years, Amy became less confident. “I became nervous to speak up in professional situations because I was worried about my breath, so I held back. For the same reason, I stopped going to dance classes. You have to get pretty close to your partner – some of the guys I danced with weren’t terribly friendly.”
Surveys suggest about half the population suffers from bad breath at some time. “A lot of dentists trivialise the problem, but patients tell me daily that it affects their every waking moment,” says Dr Phil Stemmer, a dentist who set up the Fresh Breath Centre, in central London, 12 years ago. “Halitosis damages confidence and undermines their professional, social and sex lives. I know of people who have barely left their homes because of their embarrassment and others who have attempted suicide.”
In nine out of 10 cases, the cause of bad breath is gum disease or bacteria located on the tongue. “Persistent bad breath is usually caused by smelly gases released by the bacteria that coat your teeth and gums,” says dentist Dr Nigel Carter, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF).
“Bits of food that get caught between the teeth and on the tongue will rot and can sometimes cause a deeply unpleasant smell. Bad breath can also be caused by medical problems. Dry mouth – xerostomia – affects the flow of saliva, which causes bacteria to build up in the mouth, leading to bad breath. It can be caused by some medicines, salivary gland problems, or by continually breathing through the mouth, instead of the nose.
”Other medical conditions that can cause halitosis include throat, nose or lung infections, sinusitis, bronchitis, diabetes, liver or kidney problems or digestive disorders that push stomach acid and gas back up into the throat.
"Smokers and older people are more likely to have bad breath, partly because they are more at risk of gum disease.
Research from Tel Aviv University suggests high alcohol consumption and obesity are also linked to halitosis. If you think you have bad breath, lick the inside of your wrist and sniff: if the smell is unpleasant, it is likely your breath will be, too.
Amy Jones’s fears were confirmed by a visit to the Fresh Breath Centre last year. At her first appointment, Dr Stemmer took a scraping from her tongue and asked her to smell the result. “It was not too pleasant,” says Amy.
“He showed me bacteria moving under the microscope, which was rather shocking. I had a gum infection at the back of my mouth.”
Dr Stemmer referred Amy to one of his hygienists. She was shown how to clean and floss her teeth properly and to rinse her mouth with an oil-based, herbal wash. She was also given a tongue manicure, combing the tongue with a non-abrasive scraper.
Although many products claim to fight bad breath, few have been proven to work. The British Medical Journal website BestTreatments.co.uk advises the use of anti-bacterial mouthwash for two to four weeks. Mastic gum made from the natural resin of the pistacia lentiscus tree, as well as chewing gum containing magnolia, have also both been shown in small trials to reduce oral bacteria.
To prevent bad breath, the BDHF recommends regular dentist visits, brushing teeth and gums twice per day with a fluoride toothbrush, flossing at least once a day, using a mouthwash and chewing sugar-free gum to prevent the mouth drying out. One study has shown tongue scrapers are more effective than brushing at reducing halitosis.
Amy now spends up to 20 minutes a night at home on her new oral hygiene regime, including cleaning her tongue with a dessert spoon. She also drinks more water and has cut down on coffee, which can thicken saliva and provide a breeding ground for bacteria.
“People don’t back away when I stand near them now. I feel more confident and don’t have a problem speaking up close.”
Amy now plans to dance again, learning the salsa. She says: “I look forward to seeing how dance partners respond.”
Source: UK Daily Express - http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/42099
Discover how I cured my nasty Bad Breath here.
Taking Bad Breath (Halitosis) Away
Zapping Bad Breath (Halitosis)
A New York doctor pioneers a remedy to zap bad breath with a laser
Sadeta Velovic's breath stunk.
It was so bad, people moved away from her when she spoke. Her own mother complained about the rotten stench. Even Velovic, herself, could smell the foul odor upon waking in the morning.
"Nobody wanted to be near that smell," recalls the 40-year-old Ridgewood, Queens, resident, who works in building maintenance. "I felt so bad, but I didn't know what to do. I kept going to doctors, but they didn't help."
Bad breath, otherwise known as halitosis, afflicts tens of millions of Americans, and they're not laughing about it, either. It's an embarrassing condition that has no cure, despite the claims of dozens of mouthwashes, chewing gums and sprays hawked to hapless halitosis sufferers.
But Dr. Yosef Krespi, chairman of the ear, nose and throat department at St. Luke's and Roosevelt Hospitals, has helped devise a treatment that may be the best bet yet for permanently ending bad breath.
First, some halitosis history: Scientists have sought to cure the condition for thousands of years, according to Krespi. Centuries ago, many bad-breath bearers controlled their problem simply by regularly using a newfangled contraption called the "toothbrush." Then dental floss was invented in the early 1800s, further aiding the cause of making men and women more kissable.
In the last few decades, tongue scrapers have become the breath-buster du jour, as doctors theorized that halitosis originated in the back of the tongue. Others have guessed that halitosis may start in the stomach, which explains why Velovic was first prescribed heartburn meds (they had no effect).
In reality, halitosis can originate in a variety of places, but the cause appears almost always to be the same: a building of gas-forming bacteria that often appears as a mealy white or yellow biofilm.
"The mouth is one of the dirtiest organs in the human body," says Krespi. "There are several hundred families of organisms living in there, and as this population grows, it will give off more gases."
Mouthwashes can temporarily reduce the odor, but they don't break down the biofilm (after all, if they did, they'd cure halitosis and be out of business). And for sufferers like Velovic, all the teeth-brushing, liquid-swishing and tongue-scraping in the world wouldn't solve the problem.
Krespi recently discovered why. In lab studies, he and colleagues found that the bacteria can form in tiny clumps, also called tonsilloliths, which become lodged in tonsil folds at the back of the throat.
There's no need to have your tonsils removed, which can cost $10,000 and involves general anesthetic, possible overnight hospital stays and a week or two of recovery. Instead, Krespi zaps these stones with a tiny laser beam in his office - the whole process takes about 20 minutes - and the patient can return to work the same day with just a mild sore throat. And, most likely, an end to their bad breath.
"Ninety percent of the patients are satisfied with just one treatment," says Krespi, who has zapped tonsil stones in more than 500 patients. The procedure costs about $2,000 without insurance, but most plans cover it since it's a simple, outpatient procedure and lasers have been used for treating tonsils for over a decade.
For Velovic, who had Krespi beam up her tonsilloliths about three months ago, life since has been, well, a breath of fresh air.
"I could tell there was a difference about a week after," she says. "I am so much happier now - and relieved."
Discover how I cured my nasty Bad Breath here.
Source: New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2009/03/01/2009-03-01_a_new_york_doctor_pioneers_a_remedy_to_z.html
Zapping Bad Breath (Halitosis)
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