Review of the best according to the editorial board. On the selection criteria. This material is subjective and does not constitute advertising and does not serve as a purchase guide. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.
What to do if you think you have a bad breath? First of all, you need to make sure that this is indeed the case. Halitosis, or halitosis (this is the scientific name for this symptom), is sometimes fictitious, and is a sign of dissatisfaction with your own body, the equivalent of inferiority, or a symptom of body dysmorphic disorder. The person is suspicious, easily inspired, imagines that strangers leaving him, for example, at a bus stop or in the subway, leave for a reason, but because he 'stinks from the mouth'. So how can you be sure if there is an objectively unpleasant smell? The easiest way to do it yourself. There are several ways.
Recognizing your smell
- To learn how to recognize your smell, you can first really 'spoil' it a little, for example, conducting experiments after eating garlic or onions. First, you need to wash your hands thoroughly without soap so that your palms do not smell. Then you need to make a sharp exhalation into the folded palms, and after that the contents of the palms are quickly sucked in with the nose 'for analysis'.
- The second way is to put your tongue on your own wrist, which shouldn't smell like anything of your own saliva. Of course, the smell of saliva and the smell in the mouth can be of different intensities, but still it is quite an effective way.
- Finally, you can lick or hold a clean object, such as a plastic spoon, under your tongue for a short time. When it dries up, the smell will appear more intense.
- Finally, you can wipe the mouth, gums, floor of the mouth with a clean gauze swab, and then just sniff the swab. The last way is to use dental floss for its intended purpose, and then study it for a special scent.
- After independent research methods, you need to contact your dentist to make sure if there are any objective signs of halitosis. These signs can be various plaques on the oral mucosa and on the tongue. Of course, these are untreated teeth, including the presence of carious cavities, periodontitis, and pulpitis, and in old age – and periodontal disease. Quite often, with halitosis, there are unpleasant symptoms such as a burning sensation in the mouth, a feeling of dryness, or a metallic taste in the mouth.
What does it smell like and why?
There are several fairly definite, specific odors, or main markers of the pathology of certain organs. Let's deal with them:
- the smell of ammonia, or ammonia. The ammonia odor indicates that the patient's body accumulates the end products of nitrogenous decay – urea, which must be excreted with the kidneys, or ammonia. It must be metabolized in the liver to urea, passing through the ornithine cycle. Therefore, if there is an ammoniacal smell, then this is, first of all, a symptom of chronic liver failure, and secondly, a symptom of chronic renal failure;
- if you are worried about the smell of hydrogen sulfide, rotten eggs or intestinal gas, then this may be directly related to periodic rotten belching. She, in turn, indicates a low acidity of gastric juice, stagnation in the stomach and duodenum. As a rule, the patient has a heaviness, especially after eating, he does not digest heavy food, such as meat, and often suffers from indigestion;
- the patient's mouth sometimes gives off the smell of ripe and even overripe apples, the so-called 'fruity smell', or the aroma of acetone. Most often, it indicates the accumulation of ketone bodies in the blood, developed metabolic acidosis. This pathology is considered the most dangerous in type 1 diabetes mellitus, because, in the end, a severe ketoacidotic coma may develop;
- much more common is the usual putrid odor, which indicates various inflammatory and degenerative diseases of the maxillofacial zone, dentition and oral cavity. In some case, this pathology is associated with bacterial diseases of the respiratory system. So, the most revealing, but at the same time very rare and difficult case is gangrene of the lung. A patient with lung gangrene is the source of such an eerie odor that it is impossible to be in the same room, and sometimes even on the same floor with him. This is roughly the same as attaching a fan to a large piece of rotting meat to enhance the smell. Fortunately, gangrene of the lung is extremely rare;
- there is a liver odor. Everyone knows the aroma of the liver, especially if you make minced meat from it, or fry cutlets. Liver odor is indicative of liver disease, such as cirrhosis, or chronic active hepatitis. The first listed smell of ammonia, or ammonia, appears already at the last stages of liver failure, when almost all hepatocytes are already destroyed, and the liver has nothing to utilize the end product of protein metabolism;
- there are also very rare smells. For example, a fecal or fecal odor may come from the mouth. This is also evidence of an extremely severe disorder of the gastrointestinal tract, which is called retroperistalsis (peristalsis in the opposite direction). Then the passage of the food contents does not go in the natural direction from the stomach to the intestines, but vice versa. In very severe cases, even fecal vomiting is possible, but this symptom again occurs only in very severe patients with intestinal obstruction, who are in surgical hospitals. You will not find such a patient on the street, and for a long time such a smell from an ordinary person cannot come.
In addition to the serious illnesses listed above, there are more common causes of halitosis, or bad breath. Most often it leads to poor oral hygiene, stomatitis, dental pathology. Quite often we are talking about oropharyngeal candidiasis, a chronic inflammation of the salivary glands. This pathology most often occurs in the elderly.
You should know that chronic tonsillitis, tonsillitis, adenoids, tuberculous lesions of the lungs can also lead to unpleasant exhaled air. In some cases, bad breath is associated with taking medications, and most often, it is either a sweetish smell or the smell of iron, in general, some kind of aroma is not quite ordinary.
Halitosis, or bad breath, should be distinguished from the smell of a chronic smoker, from the 'amber' of onions and garlic, in general, from all those smells that are obvious and external in nature, and which do not appear by themselves, without an understandable reason.
What medications can be used to help such patients? What remedies can freshen your breath? Before you start listing these tools, you should understand one very important point. They are all symptomatic. The patient must understand that he eliminates the symptom, just like Paracetamol or Nurofen brings down the temperature. But with the cause of the disease, with the pathophysiological mechanism of the development of the disease, which led to bad breath, these drugs cannot fight. Therefore, after using them, the quality of the exhaled air may improve for a while, but then the situation will again become unfavorable. Therefore, all the drugs listed below should be regarded only as a remedy for an ambulance, until the moment when a person goes to the doctor and begins to be seriously examined.
The best remedies for bad breath
| Nomination | a place | Name of product | price |
| Antiseptics | 1 | Miramistin | 355 RUB |
| 2 | Hydrogen peroxide | RUB 7 | |
| 3 | Chlorhexidine | 22 RUB | |
| 4 | Iodinol | RUB 11 | |
| 5 | Chlorophyllipt | 139 RUB |
Antiseptics
Antiseptic preparations are designed to make the oral cavity an unsuitable medium for the reproduction of pathogenic microorganisms, including those that give rise to an unpleasant odor. Of course, in the event that the source of the odor is the gastrointestinal tract, or the lungs, then antiseptics will not help, but nevertheless, the most common source of an unpleasant odor will be the oral cavity, and antiseptics can really get rid of the unpleasant odor.
Miramistin
Popularity rating: 4.9
Miramistin is a well-known, slightly foaming liquid without color, taste or odor, produced by the domestic company Infamed. The most popular package of 150 milliliters will cost, on average, from 280 to 380 rubles.
Miramistin belongs to quaternary ammonium compounds, and helps with an extremely large number of various infections, both for treatment and for prevention. You just need to rinse your mouth with Miramistin, since it is not able to be absorbed through the mucous membranes. It is necessary to irrigate or spray Miramistin in the mouth using a special nozzle – a spray that is put on the bottle and dispenses an antiseptic in an amount of 3-4 milliliters per serving. Rinsing your mouth three to four times a day is enough. For an adult, you need to press the nozzle three or four times to get the required dose.
Miramistin has not only a pronounced bactericidal effect against a wide variety of organisms, it also actively acts on various fungi that can multiply in the oral cavity, on viruses, as well as on sexually transmitted diseases.
Advantages and disadvantages
The big plus of Miramistin is its excellent tolerance, as well as the effect on almost all known pathogenic and opportunistic bacteria, both aerobic and anaerobic, and on various fungi. If you swallow Miramistin by accident, then nothing terrible will happen. Perhaps, as a modern antiseptic, Miramistin has no equal. But again, if the source of bad breath is air from the lungs, or it appears as an eructation from the esophagus, then no, the most effective antiseptic can eliminate it, since the antiseptic is used to treat the oral cavity, not the lungs, and not the gastrointestinal tract.
Hydrogen peroxide
Popularity rating: 4.8
Hydrogen peroxide (hydroperite) is a cheap and popular antiseptic, which, meanwhile, is very active and works very well, despite its cheapness. So, a bottle with a volume of 100 milliliters, a concentration of 3% will cost from 6 to 12 rubles. in our ranking. This is a very low cost.
It is imperative to remember that the concentration of 3% is suitable only for external use, and in order to rinse the mouth and throat, this solution is too strong, and if rinsed with undiluted peroxide, then there may be burns, whitening of the mucous membrane and discomfort. In order to properly dilute hydrogen peroxide for rinsing the mouth and throat, it is necessary to add 11 parts of water to one part of the preparation. As a result, we get a weak solution with a concentration of 0.25%. It is quite enough for hydrogen peroxide to act with microorganisms, with pus, with necrotic masses, with saliva.
As a result of this effect, hydrogen peroxide, as an unstable compound, decomposes into water and active oxygen. Oxygen is the active substance, since it enters into a chemical reaction with organic substances – substrates for the reproduction of microbes and mechanically cleanses the mucous membrane. Rinse your mouth with hydrogen peroxide 2 times a day.
Advantages and disadvantages
A big plus of hydrogen peroxide is its low cost, ubiquity, and the ability to use it to disinfect various wounds, cuts, and bites. Hydrogen peroxide is always needed in the household. So, it can even be used to increase the germination of seeds of some flower and vegetable crops. Hydrogen peroxide is antifungal and can be used on the inside of a shoe. The downside will be the need to dilute the medicine with water 11 times before use, as well as the possibility of developing side reactions – burning and redness of the oral mucosa. Naturally, a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution must be hidden from children.
Chlorhexidine
Popularity rating: 4.7
The second cheapest champion is the well-known antiseptic Chlorhexidine, which is produced in the form of chlorhexidine bigluconate, with a concentration of 0.05%. These are bottles of 100 and 200 ml. For rinsing, it is most convenient to buy a 200 ml bottle, which has an average cost of 28 to 165 rubles. It is produced by the domestic Samara pharmaceutical factory. Attention! On sale there is simply Chlorhexidine, which is diluted in ethyl alcohol, and chlorhexidine digluconate, which is sold as an aqueous solution.
The bacteriostatic effect is already manifested in a concentration of 0.01% solution or less, and the existing commercial concentration is 5 times stronger, and it ensures the destruction of microorganisms, that is, it exhibits a bactericidal effect. It is necessary to process the oral mucosa in the form of a rinse 2 to 3 times a day, but at the same time the rinsing time required to achieve the effect is at least 2-3 minutes.
Advantages and disadvantages
Chlorhexidine, unfortunately, cannot defeat fungi found in the mouth if you rinse your mouth for less than 10 minutes. Therefore, in the event that the patient has a fungal infection of the oral cavity, it is better to use hydrogen peroxide or Miramistin. If the source of bad breath is viral stomatitis, then it is also necessary to use Miramistin better here. Chlorhexidine can also cause allergic reactions, burning in the mouth and redness of the mucous membranes. Sometimes chlorhexidine leads to the fact that the color of the teeth changes, tartar begins to be deposited, and with prolonged use, taste is disturbed. But it really should be long-term use – for one month or longer. But if you accidentally swallow a solution of chlorhexidine, then it is practically not absorbed. During rinsing, avoid contact with chlorhexidine in the eyes, and if this happens, rinse the eyes thoroughly with water.
Iodinol
Popularity rating: 4.6
The next antiseptic that has been successfully used for bad breath is Iodinol. It is nothing more than polyvinyl alcohol in which potassium iodide is dissolved. It is a good antiseptic and disinfectant. There is no burning solvent here, it is an aqueous solution. Each 100 milliliters of solution contains 0.1 grams of iodine, 0.3 grams of potassium and 0.9 grams of polyvinyl alcohol. Moreover, iodine in this solution is combined with alcohol, and separately also iodine is part of the potassium salt. It is a dark blue liquid with a specific smell of iodine.
It is indicated for washing the tonsils, for instillation in the ears with purulent otitis media, for inhalation with atrophic rhinitis, in the treatment of purulent wounds. In particular, you can rinse the oral mucosa with Iodinol in case of an unpleasant odor. Rinses – in the amount of 20-30 milliliters for a single procedure, the frequency of rinsing is one or two times a day, but not longer than a week. One bottle of 100 ml of Iodinol will cost from 12 to 25 rubles.
Advantages and disadvantages
The advantage of Iodinol is a fairly high efficiency in relation to standard microorganisms, which most often cause putrefactive infection and bad breath. The disadvantage may be an excess intake of iodine into the body, therefore, Iodinol should never be swallowed. It is undesirable to use it in persons with thyroid pathology, including hyperthyroidism, with diffuse toxic goiter, with myxedema, or with insufficient thyroid function. But, when prescribed in moderate dosage, it does an excellent job of its function and freshens breath in dental patients.
Chlorophyllipt
Popularity rating: 4.5
The next drug from the group of herbal disinfectants is Chlorophyllipt. It is available as a topical and topical solution and is best used as a lozenge for bad breath. Chlorophyllipt is an extract of eucalyptus leaves, it is produced by the domestic pharmaceutical company Vifitech, and the cost of one package of 20 tablets ranges from 80 to 135 rubles.
The spectrum of indications for the resorption of chlorophyllipt tablets is much wider than halitosis, or bad breath. These are nasopharyngitis, tonsillitis, acute and chronic bronchitis, periodontal disease and inflammation of the gums – gingivitis, inflammation of the oral mucosa or various types of stomatitis. The extracted extract from eucalyptus leaves has not only bactericidal, antiviral and antifungal effects. It is also able to produce an antiprotozoal and anti-inflammatory effect, that is, it fights protozoa and reduces swelling, redness and pain. These are valuable qualities of Chlorophyllipt in general, and eucalyptus leaves in particular, are manifested thanks to the essential oil of ceniol. It is necessary to dissolve one tablet three to four times a day until the effect is achieved.
Advantages and disadvantages
Chlorophyllipt tablets are well tolerated, it rarely causes allergies, and almost never causes redness and burning in the mouth. However, if the patient has gastritis with high acidity, then it is advisable not to swallow, but to spit out saliva, since the essential oils that make up the extract, including cineole, terpenes, pinenes, can irritate the gastric mucosa and lead to heartburn. or increased pain.
We deliberately do not include here the large variety of peppermint sprays and fruit tablets available in abundance at pharmacy retailers. The fascination and collecting of various local drugs for fighting bad breath in search of the best can become an end in itself, and even a mania, instead of going to the doctor. Therefore, in this review, we deliberately limited the list of drugs to the most necessary and effective.
If you try to cope with bad breath, then, in addition to using various drugs, you should also brush your teeth with a paste with a strong mint smell, you can dissolve various medicinal mint lozenges, but only without sugar. You can chew coffee beans, a good effect is brought by prolonged rinsing of the mouth for 5-7 minutes with vegetable oil, which sometimes can absorb various odors much better than any aqueous solutions. It is quite acceptable for the treatment of halitosis to periodically chew any spices. This can be a clove, dried purple basil leaf, fennel, a small piece of nutmeg, or a very small piece of vanilla pod.
The popularity rating is based on the analysis of demand data from the wordstat.yandex.ru service.
Attention! This rating is subjective and does not constitute an advertisement and does not serve as a purchase guide. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.
