Bad Breath Clinic Opens

 GUELPH SEPT 11, 1995 - A Guelph Ontario dentist is leading the battle against bad breath by opening a clinic for halitosis sufferers.

"There are some people you want to talk to from a block away" says Dr Don Cohen, who has started a "Better Breath" clinic in Guelph.

Cohen said he is one of very few dentists in Canada offering specialized therapy for those suffering from offensive breath. Bad breath "can be devastating, both socially and on a business level" said Cohen, who first checks patients for diseases and infections that can cause bad breath, and measures the level of smelliness of their breath with a "halimeter" which takes a breath sample and analyzes it for sulfur compounds. Cohen explains "most bad breath comes from volatile sulfur compounds that comes from cell breakdown" from decaying food and bacteria trapped in the mouth. Most people score between 60 to 100 on the halimeter, but Cohen says that the "keep-a-block-away" types can score up to 700.

Cohen says that changing diet does little to offset mouth odours that occur between meals "The body is a closed system - most odors come from the mouth" and that some people have "a lot of bacteria dying , a lot of food rotting in their mouth" which causes the bad breath.

After sending patients back to their regular dentists for any necessary dental work, Cohen teaches patients how to clean their teeth and the rest of their mouth, including the tongue which he says "is like a shag rug" which can trap food and bacteria. He uses a special mouthwash and toothpaste containing stabilized chlorine dioxide which he says reduces sulfur emissions.

Can the treatment leave halitosis suffers "kissing sweet"? "Most people, yes" says Cohen, who says the treatment can cut sulfur emissions by half initially and gradually reduce them to normal levels.