Are traditional mints making your breath worse?

Are traditional mints making your breath worse?

As a dentist, I hear about and advise patients on bad breath (halitosis) every day. “I try gum, mints, mouthwash – nothing really helps and I’m not able to brush my teeth every time I want to freshen up my breath.” So, let’s talk about why mints only help for a few minutes and then actually might be making your breath worse. 

First, I want to explain some of the causes of bad breath. Your mouth contains billions of bacteria – both good and bad. Some of these more harmful bacteria thrive in acidic environments (low pH), and the effect of this liveliness is bad breath. 

Now, how does your oral environment become acidic? Food and drink. Almost everything you consume, except for water, will create an acidic environment. One of the most common is sugar. These effects can last up to an hour after consumption. 

In simple terms: bacteria consume sugar = low pH in mouth = bad breath. 

Many mints on the market contain alcohol. Some of the bad oral bacteria act to break down alcohol into – you guessed it – sugar. So now after only a short period of time that the mints are making your breath minty fresh, the bacteria take break down that sugar and create an acidic environment again. Now you are sitting on a roller coaster of that mint contributing to bad breath again.


Let’s look at the solution!


Mintier uses 100% oil-based ingredients rather than alcohol-based to prevent lower the pH in your mouth to a harmful point. Now, these bacteria do not have any sugar to break down. Instead, the oil-based ingredients are leaving your mouth hydrated and smelling minty fresh!

The oil-based ingredients work together for your benefit. The coconut oil hydrates your mouth, lemon and cinnamon oil have antimicrobial properties, and the peppermint and spearmint oil leave you with fresh breath. This is what this dentist would call a win-win-win!

Dr. Kelli Dummerth

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