Halitosis or Bad Breath (and, suggested by Google, “Mouth Breathers”!) may have light at the end of the tunnel

Researchers in Brazil tried to cure Halitosis by shining light on tongues:

to treat oral halitosis in healthy adults with photodynamic therapy (PDT), associated with periodontal treatment and follow them up for 3 months.

As background, many know that Halitosis is associated with microbes gone rogue:

A recent study evaluated the microbioma associated with halitosis. Among the most frequent bacteria we can mention Treponema denticola, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, Fusobacterium nucleatum and Campylobacter rectus.^[10–13] These microorganisms release the VSCs which are products, resulting from the metabolism of these microorganisms. Among the main VSCs we can mention: hydrogen sulphide (SH₂) – found on the back of the tongue, methylmercaptanes (CH₃SH) – present in periodontal disease and dimethyl sulphide (CH₃SCH₃) of extraoral origin.^[14–17]

The suggested mechanism is that the light induces reactive oxygen species in the presence of a dye in order to kill the malodorous bacteria.

The result?

The specifications and dosimetry of laser in this search will be the same used in studies that used PDT to treat halitosis and obtained good results. Irradiations with the red laser diode (λ = 660 nm) with output power of 100 mW, 9 J, 320 J/cm² and irradiance of 3537 mW/cm² with a point application method and in direct contact with the tongue, 6 points with a distance of 1 cm between the points, showed significantly reduce of the halitosis levels.^[18,19,8]

More research needs to be done! But there may be some hope.

Thanks for reading…

PubMed Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6775352/