Chewing on a sprig of fresh parsley is an old home remedy for bad breath, and the commercial product Breath Assure is based on this idea. The product is apparently capsules of parsley oil, which are swallowed whole. This remedy is particularly recommended for garlic breath and other halitosis due to recently eaten foods.

Those who have found that Breath Assure works well have probably used it for those social times when they’ve enjoyed a meal containing garlic, onions or various spices - and there’s no doubt that it’s a lot easier to carry around a little bottle of capsules than a bunch of parsley. Unfortunately, this natural remedy is unlikely to work for chronic continuous bad breath.

Fresh parsley is the same: it’s best for masking food odors on the breath, but no match for bad breath with the rotten egg smell of sulfur compounds. Fresh breath and Breath Assure don’t act on that kind of bad breath, or on it’s cause – bacteria living in the mouth that create volatile sulfur compounds as they go about their business.

So if it’s a quick fix you need, after a good meal or perhaps as a little extra insurance on date night, Breath Assure is likely to be a good choice for you (and it seems it won’t make your breath smell like parsley either). If your bad breath is the other kind, however, you’ll need to bring in the big guns. Look for a product that contains chlorhexidine, zinc, possibly sodium chlorite or chlorine dioxide.

These products seem to work better for problems like chronic halitosis because they actually act on the bacteria that release the bad smelling sulfur compounds, and reduce the number of these bacteria that are living in the mouth. The fewer of these bacteria there are, the less odor is produced.

Be aware however, that fresh breath products are all of a temporary nature. Breath Assure may get you through your date, but the next time you eat those foods, you’ll likely need it again. Similarly, products that attack the bacteria don’t kill them all, and if you stop using the product, the bacteria will quickly rebound, bringing back the terrible bad breath.