The researchers from College of Dentistry of University of Illinois at Chicago have finally found the most widespread cause of bad breath – the bacteria living in the back of the tongue. It emits stinky hydrogen sulphide, which makes breath smell. It’s impossible to get rid of these bacteria using only a toothbrush. But there is one thing that kills these bacteria – tea. You may have already read, that strong tea is also effective against foot odor. As you see, tea is widely adopted.
There’s, of course, no doubt, that if you drink tea, you still need to clean your teeth. But enjoying this aromatic beverage more often also makes your breath fresher. To prove this, the researchers artificially cultivated three kinds of the smelly bacteria and placed them in the solution containing tea polyphenols for 48 hours. As it was expected, polyphenols blocked the bacteria growth, though the concentration of polyphenols in the solution was less, than that in usual tea.
I must add, that this was only a laboratory research, but I’ve heard before, that tea is an effective home remedy for bad breath and other problems, so, you can easily try it at home and decide, if it’s effective for you, too. If you would like to learn more about other causes of bad breath and how to banish bad breath, read “Causes of Bad Breath. Tricks for Fresh Breath”.
March 29th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Hello,
You are absolutely right. The Chinese have known this for years.
Tea has many other health benefits as well.
Regards
March 30th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Is there a particular type of tea?
I know if i drink a few cups of tea - made with a tea bag and milk - my breath seems worse… maybe thats the milk?
kathryn
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:41 am
I drink black tea with sugar and sometimes lemon every morning and after dinner but it doesn’t make my breath fresh.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:45 am
I meant black tea in this article, fresh and not necessarily strong, without sugar and better not in bags. You shouldn’t expect, that tea will make your breath as fresh as when you chew a mint gum or clean your teeth.
I’m not a chemist and I can’t say for sure, that milk makes tea polyphenols less active and tea – less effective against bad breath (you could check it at home). If somebody could share this information with us, it would be great.
May 2nd, 2008 at 4:01 am
Yeah, i’ve heard that drinking black or green tea is a natural way to rid your mouth of bad smells but i just know from you that tea kill bacteria in mouth. thank you.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Tea - it is just an all around great thing - great tasting too. Great layout on the site.