Most of us have carried a package of mint chewing gum around in a pocket, as much for a quick breath fix as for the pleasure of chewing it, but does gum freshen breath? With very few exceptions, chewing gums contain no ingredients that have any lasting effect on your breath - they just temporarily replace the odor on your breath with a mint odor, or some other odor like cinnamon or fruit.

So the answer to the question, "Does gum freshen breath," is both yes and no. Yes - if all you need is momentary freshness, or something to cover the smell of a recently smoked cigarette until it dissipates on its own, gum will probably work just fine (though a strong mint candy might be even better). Choose one of the brands that makes a claim about freshening breath for the best results. A few brands of gum do contain ingredients that do more than mask odor. Chlorophyll, for example, seems to soak up odors and neutralize them, though it doesn't address the source of the odor, and specialized products now deliver oxygen to the back of the mouth, where odor producing bacteria thrive, to actually reduce odor production. These specialized products, however, are not available in the candy lane at the grocery store.

And no (does gum freshen breath) - if your halitosis problem is chronic and you'd like to say goodbye to it for good, think about trying something a little more effective than a stick of gum. Good oral cleaning products are available that help remove plaque and trapped food particles from the mouth and fight off the bacteria that cause halitosis in one way or another. Many of these products have been around for years, while others use new and novel approaches to the problem of halitosis. Choose one that claims to be antiseptic or antibacterial. Some contain chemicals that kill bacteria; others contain oil that picks up the bacteria and carries them off; some contain oxygenating ingredients that deliver oxygen (the odor producing bacteria in your mouth don't do well in the presence of oxygen). Check how your chosen product is supposed to work, and if you don't get good results, try a different product with a different approach.

So does gum freshen breath? Well, no, not usually, but many of us enjoy chewing it anyway - just for the taste.