I just wanted to say that there was a lot of info that was left out of the bad breath segment. There was no mention of him going to the dentist to see if he had any tooth decay. A decayed tooth can smell really bad and so can gum disease. He should have been told to see his dentist for a full check up and x-rays and a good cleaning. After that they never mentioned if he was on any medications which can dry the patients mouth. A lot of meds such as antidepressants and blood pressure pills can cause this and cause a lot of problems. Dr. Ordon said he didn’t think there was a dentist out there that would recommend chewing gum but that’s not really true. A lot of dentists recommend it for patients with dry mouth or who snack a lot and can’t brush right away. Of course it HAS to be sugarfree but it’s great for some patients. Acid reflux should have been mentioned as well. Those stomach acids can cause a lot of problems in the mouth as well. The tongue scraper is a great tool and I have and use one but I think a lot more should have been mentioned. A patients mouth can tell a lot about their health and bad breath can be a lot more than you might think. I love the show and watch it every day. Keep up the good work and maybe a future show about oral health might be a good idea. Periodental disease has been linked to heart disease and even low birth weight in babies. You can also see STD’s in the mouth and pass on tooth decay. Lots of interesting things hiding in a mouth.Thanks for listening.

Whenever someone talks about bad breath I have never heard anyone mention tonsil stones or tonsilith. They are little balls that gather in the back of the throat in little holes or crevices in the tonsils. They smell terrible. When coughed up, they are yellow-green in color. They are almost like balls of pus. I would appreciate hearing how to get rid of these. They cause the worst breath. Some people can squeeze them out of their throat themselves, I have never been able to see where mine come from. I think if more doctors talked about this problem we would find that this could be alot of peoples bad breath problems.

Gwyneth, I had bad breath caused by food accumulating in my tonsils. I tried many things as well before I realized what was causing my bad breath. I would brush & gargle right after eating, but that didnt help. So I would use a small crochet hook to get the food out of the holes. I had my tonsils removed a couple of years ago and I no longer have the problem. I always had large tonsils, they got larger as I got older and were obstructing my breathing at night, so I had two reasons for wanting to get rid of them. The bad breath starting from this when I was in my mid 30’s and I have excellent teeth, gums etc.

O M G !!!!!!!! YES YES YES!!!!! I meant to say something months ago about this. I remember sitting there watching this episode and thinking to myself “that poor guy can scrape and gargle all he wants and it’s not going to do ANYTHING if he has tonsil stones!!!!”

My husband was plagued with TERRIBLE TERRIBLE breath pretty much all his life. It really was the most digusting smell EVER!! lol…he went and saw doctors and dentists and they just kept telling him “must be the food you eat…or maybe try a tongue scraper or floss more” he did it ALL!!!! NOTHING worked. then one day he was fishing around in his mouth, for reasons i have NO CLUE why…lol…and he found a “pocket” in the back of his throat, and there was something whitish back there…he poked around and popped and gagged it out..lol..ew i know…and the whole house was practically FILLED with this stench!! lol…it was a TONSIL STONE!!!! my GOD!!!!! then i smelled his breath and it was STINK FREE!!!! every now and then another stone builds up and he just pops it out….at least we now know WHY his breath stunk all the time.

but yeah….i don’t understand how more doctors don’t know about this.

I was shocked when I first went on the web to search this problem, as my son who is 15 and I both have this problem. I so wish the doctor I had asked about the nasty white bumps in my throat that made my breath smell bad and whole mouth taste bad knew ANYTHING about them. Now my son and I are being treated by ENT’s and are slated to get our tonsils out, me in 2 weeks and his in the summer. Bummer way to start your first summer with your liscence, but better than suffering with bad breath or popping out those things all the time.

I can’t count how many times I have damaged my tonsils, or felt sick after they have come out. The first doctor told me to leave them alone. That is easy for someone else to say when you don’t have stinky things poking out of your tonsils! I brushed,scraped,rinsed,gargled, and quit eating several foods all to no avail. Finally after reading about others struggles, called an ENT’s office and they knew exactly what it was. Take ‘em out!! I know some people aren’t ready for that drastic solution, but it is best for me, and my son has chosen to not have that awful breath. I think it will be better for a young man as well.

Good luck to all the other sufferers out there.