A coffee it runs out, transforms your mouth into the ideal breeding ground for pungent bacteria. Like other acidic beverages, such as alcohol and lemonade, coffee dries out your mouth. With less antibacterial saliva to keep the bacteria in check, they reproduce
willi-
nilly. As metabolic by-products, these bacteria emit hydrogen sulfide, which is the main
casue of halitosis.
You're only making matters worse if you take your coffee with milk and sugar. Bacteria love eating both, and sugar also feed plague-forming (yet non-fragrant) bacteria under which the malodorous bacteria hide.
If giving up your morning
mochaccino just isn't an option, then try rinsing your mouth with water after you finish your coffee, suggests
harold Katz, founder of the California Breath Clinics. "Saliva does this naturally," he says. "But eating an apple or some celery is also good-they are rough foods with lots of water, which is good for cleaning your mouth."
Cinnamon gum is another effective breath freshener, but not just because its scent masks the stench. Microbiologist Christine Wu of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry found that Wrigley's Big Red chewing gum, which contains a negligible amount of sugar, kills up to 50 percent of mouth bacteria thanks to the antibacterial properties of cinnamon oil and other natural flavor oils.
-Graeme
Stemp-
Morlock-