Have you ever wondered whether the products you use really help you get rid of bad breath quick? In 2007, scientists at the University of British Columbia and the Nippon Dental University in Tokyo used a high tech method to see if common remedies for this most common health condition could really work.

The dentist-researchers recruited volunteers who would agree not to eat any food, drink, floss, clean their gums or tongue, or brush their teeth from midnight of the night before their appointment until they came in to the lab. This was to make sure that the test was measuring the ability of the tested products to control "garden variety" bad breath, the bad breath caused by bacteria that are in the mouth every day.

The volunteers blew into a collecting device for a gas chromatograph calibrated to measure hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan, two especially stinky chemicals that are associated with bad breath odor, rotten egg odor, and fecal odor. This chemical identification tool measured a baseline level and how much the concentration of the chemicals decreased—or not—at one hour intervals after using various breath fresheners.

The scientists made some interesting discoveries. For instance:

Breath mints never reduced the concentration of the two stinky chemicals in the air in the mouth at any time.

"A very popular parsley oil product" (Clorets) did not absorb any of the stinky chemicals at any time. After about 2 hours, mouth bacteria apparently started making hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan out of the gum itself.

Chewing gum did not reduce the concentration of these two chemicals at any time.

Toothpaste absorbed a little of the hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan for up to 2 hours.

Drinking green tea was a significant deodorant (it caused removal of half of these bad breath chemicals) for up to 2 hours, but not for longer than that.

What the science seems to show is that most of the things we take for bad breath don’t really get rid of bad breath. They only cover it up with other odors. However, everything about breath mints, chlorophyll chewing gum (Clorets, made with parsley oil), and toothpaste obviously isn’t bad! Here’s how these products help you get rid of bad breath over the long run.

Breath mints don’t have a big effect on the odors in your mouth, although if you use a breath mint, other people probably won’t smell those other odors at least for a while. What breath mints do for you that reduces halitosis is they reduce the likelihood you will burp up obnoxious gases released from the digestion of garlic, onions, smoked fish, and cheese. Breath mints can also "trick" the nose so other body odors are not noticeable.

Chlorophyll chewing gum and other sugarless chewing gums don’t deodorize, but they do stimulate salivation. If you can keep your mouth and tongue from getting dry, there will be fewer tiny cracks to provide halitosis bacteria with a home. These products don’t get rid of bad breath right away, but they do keep it from developing later. And chewing gum flavored with xylitol can also prevent ear and sinus infections.

Toothpaste isn’t a deodorant, either. But a daily brush with peroxide toothpaste really can help prevent gingivitis and other forms of gum and tooth decay capable of causing overwhelming odors. Be sure to rinse your toothbrush after you use it.

And what the research reports don’t make clear is that all forms of green tea are not equal when it comes to halitosis care. Green tea you make the Asian way, by putting finely ground green tea directly in the cup and covering with hot water, is an excellent breath freshener and an important aid to oral hygiene. Green tea you make from tea bags, not so much. White tea has similar properties, but the bagged form is not best.

There are times, of course, that additional effort is necessary for controlling bad breath. Certain medications, like the drugs used to treat irritable bladder disease, depression, or Parkinson’s disease, are especially drying to the mouth. Any infection that causes bleeding or that makes the gums or tongue red is likely to cause bad breath, and getting a dentist to look at it should be a top priority. Person-to-person transmission of cold and flu germs will also result in halitosis about a week later, even if other symptoms are not all that rough.

Just be careful about the mouthwash you choose. Any product that contains alcohol, Listerine, for instance, can dry out the mouth and over the long run cause a bad breath problem as bad as the one it cures. At the top of your list of mouthwash selections should be alcohol-free herbal mouthwashes such as Sarakan and Astring-O-Sol.