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September 29, 2004
Bad Breath
Interview
with Dr. Harold Katz author of the book, The
Bad Breath Bible (800) 826-9882 www.freshbreath.com
Mike
Carruthers:
Admit it, you worry about bad breath, so do a lot of people.
Dr. Harold
Katz:
About a third of the population has bad breath severe
enough where they seek assistance from their physician, their
dentist or a pharmacist.
Dentist
Dr. Harold Katz, founder of the California
Breath Clinics…
Many
people, for a number of years thought that bad breath comes
from the digestive system, from the stomach, and that's an unfortunate
myth. Almost all bad breath comes from bacteria, which live
within the back of the tongue, the throat and tonsil area. These
are bacteria you're suppose to have, but under certain conditions,
particularly when your mouth is dry, they start to over produce
what are called volatile sulfur compounds. But, for certain
people that concentration is severe enough where someone next
to them on a plane or at school can smell that.
Ironically
Dr. Katz says that many of the products that are suppose to
help the problem actually make it worse.
Most
commercial mouthwash is full of alcohol. Alcohol makes the mouth
very dry, anytime your mouth is more dry your breath will become
worse. So, by overdoing mouthwashes you're actually making your
breath worse instead of better.
And by the
way, blowing into your hand and smelling is a lousy way to test
for your own bad breath.
It's
a great way to smell your hand but there's a process in your
brain called acclimation where you get used to your own odor.
So a simple way to test it is to actually lick the back of your
hand and let that dry for a few seconds and then smell that.
Tomorrow,
what really works to fight bad breath. I'm Mike Carruthers and
that's Something You Should Know.
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