Everyone suffers from bad breath occasionally. Eating onions, garlic or other strong smelling foods can send those around you running for the hills, or offering you a mint. However, around 25 percent of the human population suffers from bad breath no matter what they eat or how often they brush their teeth, rinse with mouthwash or scrape their tongue. If you are one of these people, oral probiotics may help. This guide explains what probiotics are, how they work and how to use them for better smelling breath.

How Probiotics Came To Be

In the early 1900s, scientist Elie Metchnikoff discovered the healing power of probiotics. He learned that taking helpful bacteria could alter the flora in a person's gut, therefore providing them with better gastrointestinal health.

Since this discovery, especially in the past several years, doctors and hospitals have used probiotics to help those with gastrointestinal infections, such as Clostridium difficile, a potentially deadly infection. Patients are instructed to use probiotics when taking antibiotics. These drugs kill all bacteria in a person's body and not just the bad, so probiotics replenish the good while preventing overgrowth of disease causing bacteria.

How Probiotics Work In Your Mouth

The premise for using oral probiotics is the same as it is for the rest of your immune system. Probiotics create a film on your tongue and the other portions of your mouth to inhibit harmful bacteria. As these products work to suppress odor-causing bacteria, your breath will smell fresher.

In addition to helping with bad breath, probiotics help to prevent gum disease as you are striking the right balance between the good and the bad bacteria in your mouth. Because gum disease is also caused by an overgrowth of bad bacteria, the addition of good bacteria reduces or eliminates the risk of this disease.

How To Use Probiotics For Bad Breath

Choose your desired method of adding oral probiotics to your daily oral hygiene routines. Ask your dentist for his or her recommendation of how many and which strains of bacteria to purchase. Once you have this information, read the labels of these products when making your decision:

• yogurt
• milk
• tablets
• oral rinses
• probiotic gum

Follow the advice of a dentist like Brant N Olson, DDS PA. and always take probiotic tablets and rinses according to the instructions on the package to ensure that you're obtaining the right balance of bacteria in your mouth.

There is still a lot of research happening in the probiotic field and in time, more health benefits of probiotics may be discovered. But for now, speak with your dentist to learn more about how you can cure or stave off bad breath as well as gum disease by ingesting probiotics.