by: Dr. Harold Katz
FACT: Just about EVERYONE has morning breath to one degree or another.
STATISTICS ON MORNING BREATH, WHERE DO YOU FIT?
Approximately 35% of the world's population has a chronic, noticeable breath condition which usually leads them to seek help from a professional. This group of people have bad breath concerns 24 hours a day, including food odors, taste disorders, dry mouth, and of course morning breath.
Another 35% are considered "borderline" meaning that their breath seems fresh throughout the day, but they can easily reach "chronic" levels if they eat certain foods (dairy, alcohol, sugars), after taking medication (antihistamines, antidepressants, high blood pressure medication), and always when they wake up, in other words, morning breath.
The remaining 30% rarely worry about bad breath. The only exceptions are when they eat garlic and onions, or upon wakening (morning breath)....
WHAT CAUSES MORNING BREATH?
An environment that contributes to morning breath is one that is dry. As we sleep throughout the night, our salivary glands slow down (or for some older people, they shut down completely) because our brain knows we are not eating. This lack of saliva combined with the constant flow of air (for those of us who snore or are mouth breathers) over our palate makes for a very DRY environment on the tongue, within the oral cavity, and in the throat. These dry areas are the breeding grounds of the anaerobic (without oxygen) sulfur producing bacteria that cause bad breath and taste disorders, and thus, when we awake we have morning breath. Saliva is nature's way of protecting us from bad breath because healthy saliva contains high concentrations of oxygen, the natural enemy of anaerobic bacteria.
What most people don't know is that morning breath is NOT something you have to live with!
The key to stopping morning breath is to find a way to stop the production of those volatile sulfur compounds (VSC's) during the night as you are asleep. One way would be to increase the production of saliva within the back of your throat and mouth during the course of the night. This however is very difficult to do, after all you're asleep! Those of us who are mouth breathers are drying out the back of our throats with each breath we take throughout the night.
A better, and easier way, is to stop the production of bad breath sulfur compounds by the bacteria that create morning breath. How do you do this? I recommend using what are called "AktivOxigen tablets" (http://therabreath.com/products.asp?CAT2). These tablets are small, highly concentrated morning breath eliminators. When dropped into water, they create a POWERFUL, unflavored oral rinse that will destroy the morning breath bacteria on contact. This rinse is also effective because it is a rinse that you can swallow which allows the solution to coat the back of your throat and tonsils. Using the rinse prior to bedtime, allowing the solution to work for the entire night, virtually eliminates morning breath.