History of development – more details, for those who might be interested.

The information here is not important to the use of our system. It is included because I’ve always liked knowing the back-story of an invention, especially of new products with “out of the box” approaches and I enjoy sharing and teaching. The Pristine Breath Care concept is unique and you may be interested in an account of its development. When I look back, the discovery seems almost inspired, however the development and refinement was a labor of love.

My quest for good breath started with a frustrating search for help. It resulted in a somewhat serendipitous finding of success. Then a system was refined through research and study over several more years.

The invention of this remedy happened because my wife began complaining about my breath. More urgency was generated when a patient remarked about my breath odor. The difficulty persisted for 15 years (a little stubborn?) before it was resolved through crazy desperate trial and error and lots of study.

I knew that for me, brushing, flossing and swishing with mouthwash hadn’t gotten the job done. Using online searches, I discovered other folks who were similarly discouraged. Many had the same observations about not getting results using the standard recommendations. Interestingly, in dental school I never had one test question about bad breath or halitosis, nor was the subject addressed on my national board exams. I didn’t even have a single lecture devoted to the third most common concern of our patients (BAD BREATH!). Curious…

The experts think that 85-90% of bad breath originates in the oral region and is produced by bacteria. So bacteria and their smelly gas byproducts are our target for breath improvement.

Early in development, when stumbling upon success, I was using many different existing products. Later I commissioned testing of the effect of various rinse ingredients on oral biofilms (groups of bacteria living together in a protective Jell-O-like sticky slimy buildup that adheres to oral tissues). Reviewing these results, along with reading numerous scientific articles, studying information from international conferences and much informal testing, guided me to create our current system. I formulated three custom rinses to be in maximum alignment with what I believed were critical ingredients at proper concentrations.

The first rinse contains only zinc acetate and water. Zinc is often found in breath improvement products for a good reason. Combining zinc with vinegar (acetate is Latin for vinegar) and then heating is one way of producing zinc acetate. When used alone the taste is somewhat metallic and acidic. It may seem odd to have an unpleasant tasting rinse for the first step of a breath freshener, but I prioritized proven effectiveness over conventional thinking. Our final rinse with essential oils does a great job of creating a fresh lingering sensation.

The second rinse is plain hydrogen peroxide. Our bodies produce hydrogen peroxide naturally as part of our defense system. There are good studies showing an ability to cleanse (debride) the oral environment, including disrupting bacterial biofilms. Bubbles are created when this rinse reacts with saliva. These lift away bacteria and food debris. Some reports suggest that perhaps the use of zinc acetate prior to applying hydrogen peroxide or in conjunction with it may enhance the effectiveness of both ingredients.

The final rinse is an essential oil blend that I worked with an herbalist to formulate. We theorized forty-three different essential oil combinations that would likely be effective. Samples were made of each. Of those, thirty-five did not provide the refreshing sensation that I wanted and were eliminated. My gracious office staff tested the remaining eight samples and the choices were narrowed down to three. I made the final selection. Subsequent scientific studies have confirmed the effectiveness of many of our ten essential oils for improving breath quality, not just covering up odor.

It would be simpler if we could put these three rinses together in one or two bottles. Unfortunately when that is done it severely compromises the effectiveness. If combined they interact over time and lose their ability to accomplish what they are able to do separately.

A critical aspect of the Pristine System is the location where the rinses are applied. At a breath conference in Germany I attended a presentation entitled “Investigations into the micro-ecology of oral odor in man and companion animals”. Pretty exciting stuff, right? Well, because of details in this lecture I had a moment of clarity that filled in the missing link in understanding why my method was working for me. I hadn’t realized that my intuitive gargling style was pivotal. Discovering where the bacteria associated with bad breath overwhelmingly prefer to live and knowing that my natural method of gargling was getting active ingredients to that precise location was the final key to creating a system that could predictably and consistently help others.

So where is the problem source? The back of the tongue is a well-known location for the bacteria we are interested in, think tongue scraper. However in the Germany lecture it was revealed that the root of the tongue, past where you can see or a tongue scraper can reach, has three times the concentration of bad breath causing bacteria as the visible rear of the tongue. We also know that the tonsil area of the throat can develop “tonsil stones” which when coughed up and smelled have the stench of the worst bad breath. Even if you don’t have tonsils, those same bacteria can be living in that region and just not accumulating in the craters of tonsils, but still stinking up the place. Every time you swallow the root of the tongue and walls of the throat and tonsil area contact and share the bacteria that are present.  I am certain that this region produces the vast majority of breath odor. Brushing, flossing and rinsing don’t reach where the biggest problem exists.

Most of us, when trying to test our own breath, intuitively open our mouths widely and blow warm air from deep in the throat into our cupped hand. We don’t usually test air like we are blowing out candles. We seem to naturally understand where offensive odors develop. My hygienists have shared experiences where during a tooth cleaning visit they had detected no bad breath until the patient released a deep sigh (from the far back of the throat) and then an unpleasant odor emerged. Dentistry does not tend to venture past the easily visible rear of the tongue, but the bacteria causing bad breath don’t know about our boundaries and go wherever they find a favorable environment.

Working with a speech pathologist, sounds were identified that if made during gargling allowed liquid to reach what I consider target areas – the far back and root of the tongue and deep into the throat (see Gargle Guide >). The results of gargling with this method have been profound.

The amount of time that the rinses remain in contact with the target areas is also important. It is intuitively logical that a longer application time might result in a better outcome than a shorter one. Our testing supported that supposition. We determined that for the initial cleanse a contact time of 60 seconds for each rinse was needed to be done twice a day for a period of three days to predictably change breath quality. Once the problem was under control, it was found that we could maintain the restored fresh breath by combining Bottle 1 and Bottle 2 for a 30 second application and follow with a 30 second application of Bottle 3.

While I was convinced about the performance of each rinse individually, I also came to believe that the sequence of application might be important for optimizing effectiveness. Think of restoring a piece of furniture by first stripping or sanding, then staining and finally finishing with varnish. The sequence does matter. We are trying to “restore” your pristine breath. I have scientific reasons for the benefit of our recommended order of use.

By the way, scientists tell us that the lungs are very rarely a source of bad breath, but can be the origin of food breath, like garlic breath and also metabolic processes breath, such as keto breath or diabetic breath. The stomach is almost never a source either. Think of burp odor or vomit odor or gastric reflux odor, do they remind you of bad breath?

So here are the secrets to changing your breath: 1) Use effective products of adequate concentration; 2) Apply the products precisely where the problem originates; 3) Maintain contact for an appropriate amount of time; 4) Administer the products in an optimal sequence.

I hope that using the Pristine System affords you relief. It certainly has been transformative for me and many others.