Green Tea Cure Bad Breath
Alternative Mouthwash

Have a sweet tooth and can't seem to brush your teeth often enough? Tea can help. Unlike soft drinks, it is alkaline and non-erosive.

Green tea is a good source of fluoride. One cup of brewed green tea contains around 0.3 to 0.5 mg of fluoride, an optimal level of fluoride according to dentists.

Fluoride builds in our teeth enamel, making it more resistant against acids.

Tea compounds have also been found to destroy bacteria and viruses that cause throat infections, dental caries and other dental conditions. Tea extracts are used to make toothpaste and mouthwash.

One study found that a herbal mixture containing green tea outperforms chemical mouthwash.

A 2016 study by University of Malaya found that a herbal mouthwash consisting of green tea and root extract from Salvadora persica (known as the toothrush tree) outperformed chemical mouthwash.

According to the authors, the "gold standard" mouthwash is made from a chemical known as chlorhexidine (CHX), but it has undesirable side effects such as teeth staining and "interfering with taste function, bitter taste, enhancing calculus formation".

The researchers found the herbal mixture to be anti-bacterial, removes dental plaques and helps prevents re-growth for up to 24 hours.

To quote the author:

"This result supports the earlier reported anti-bacterial and anti-adherence effects of this combination which may explain its significant anti-plaque effect."

"The anti-plaque effect of this combination was significantly better than 0.12% CHX. So, this combination provides a natural alternative mouthwash to CHX."

A 2003 study conducted by US microbiologist, Milton Schiffenbauer, of Pace University found that caffeinated green tea is better than caffeinated black tea at fighting viruses.

Decaffeinated blends were less effective as anti-viral agents.

"Our research shows tea extracts can destroy the organism that causes disease," he told a conference in Washington DC.

"If we can stimulate the immune system and at the same time we are destroying the organisms, then it makes sense to drink more tea."

The study was presented at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in 2003.

Another 2001 study looked at how tea slowed the growth of bacteria associated with bad breath.

"Besides inhibiting the growth of pathogens in the mouth, black tea and its polyphenols may benefit human oral health by suppressing the bad-smelling compounds that these pathogens produce," said Christine Wu of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Evaluation of Salvadora persica L. and green tea anti-plaque effect: a randomized controlled crossover clinical trial (2016). Hayder Raad Abdulbaqi, Wan Harun Himratul-Aznita and Nor Adinar Baharuddin. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

BBC News 20 May 2003. Tea 'May Fight Tooth Decay'. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3043581.stm.

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