Wu-Tang Clan rapper tweets about bad breath

Rapper Dennis Coles, better known as Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang Clan, recently sent 12 messages in 10 minutes about bad breath via Twitter. His advice ranged from the common to the inadvisable to the just plain weird. Here’s the breakdown.

“When yall get up in the mornin man, don't just brush your teeth man scrub your tongue.” - Coles’s first tweet is spot on. Brushing your teeth and scrubbing your tongue in the morning can reduce morning breath to a minimum. Sleeping with your mouth open is the cause of morning breath, since a dry palate allows bacteria to grow quickly.

“Got that food tongue, wake up mouth smellin.” - This one is also more or less correct. When not rinsed off the tongue, food particles provide nourishment for odor-causing bacteria.

“Swallow a box of baking soda and peroxide!” - Do not do this under any circumstances. Even under benign conditions, such as brushing the teeth with a dollop of baking soda or swishing with hydrogen peroxide, these treatments may not neutralize odor compounds.

“Throw some listerine in there too at the same time man.” - Mouthwash often contains alcohol that dries the mouth, much like breathing with your mouth open can.

To stop halitosis at the source, a good mouth care plan may include brushing and flossing every day, scraping your tongue and using specialty breath freshening products to moisten your mouth and eliminate odorous compounds that are the hallmark of bad breath.