I am one of those people who listen to television commercials about bad breath and try everything they suggest, but my problem persists. Help!
Bad breath, with its social implications, is one of the major problems facing Australians today, if the health content of television commercials is to be believed!
Halitosis (the technical name for bad breath) may be due to smoking—the most common cause—poor dental hygiene, periodontal (gum) disease, sinusitis, bronchitis and other infections. Fad diets that contain excess protein and not enough carbohydrates are another possibility because the breakdown products of proteins are highly volatile acids that are expelled in the breath.
Alcoholics have halitosis because the alcohol alters the balance of microorganisms in the gut, causing an increase in the number of odor-producing bacteria.
Other serious diseases that can cause halitosis include diabetes, hepatitis and cancer. Drugs such as those used to treat angina, fluid tablets and certain tranquillizers may also be responsible.
Those of you with bad breath should stop smoking, clean your teeth regularly, use dental floss, and gargle with antiseptic mouthwashes. If these measures fail, then see your doctor to have some of the more serious potential causes excluded. A dental appointment may also be necessary.

Is it necessary to spend a lot of money getting wisdom teeth out because of infection or gum growing over them? Can’t they be left to rot without affecting the body?
Wisdom teeth are removed because they cause constant pain, crowd other teeth, or become infected. Most people do not have their wisdom teeth removed, because (like the appendix) they are meant to be there.
On the other hand, if these teeth are causing discomfort or damage to other teeth, it is in your long-term interest to have them removed.
Leaving an infected tooth to rot is certainly not an option. The toxins and infection can spread throughout your body, to make you extremely ill, and possibly even cause death. Even if you recovered after several months from the infection, the tooth would still be present.
Fear of dentists is a common phenomenon, but you can arrange to have a general anesthetic, and although your jaw will be sore for a few days afterwards, the long-term relief will be worthwhile.

Should children be taking fluoride supplements if they use fluoride toothpaste?
The fluoride in toothpaste acts directly on the tooth enamel from the outside, hardening it and helping it resist decay, but it can only act upon the very outermost layer of the tooth enamel.
Fluoride in tablet form does the same thing, but enters the tooth from the inside via the bloodstream, and permeates the entire tooth. Fluoride tablets can therefore protect the entire tooth far more effectively than fluoride toothpaste alone.
Many areas of Australia have adequate supplies of fluoride added to the drinking water, giving everyone protection. If you live in an area that has fluoride added to the water supply, or if the natural level of fluoride in the water is high, you do not need to give your children fluoride tablets. This information will be available by phoning your local council. If there is no fluoride in the water, it is advisable to give fluoride supplements to protect your children’s teeth.

My son obtains his water for drinking from an underground well. Do his children need to take fluoride tablets?
Some water supplies, be they from the local dam or an underground well, contain adequate amounts of fluoride to protect children’s teeth. The fact that children in some communities were noticed to have far healthier teeth than others, led to the discovery of fluoride in the water supply of the healthier children, and the subsequent development of fluoridation of many water supplies around the world to protect the teeth of children.
Your local council can tell you if your water supply contains adequate amounts of fluoride. If it does not, your children should take fluoride tablets or drops to protect their teeth from premature decay.
When using water from a well, it will be necessary to have a sample of the water analysed to determine its fluoride content. Industrial chemists undertake this work, and it is important to obtain these results, as giving fluoride supplements to children who already have adequate fluoride in their diets can lead to teeth discolouration (but not damage). The minerals in the ground around the well will determine the amount of fluoride in the water.
Water obtained from rooftops and tanks will never contain any fluoride, as this is very close to distilled water, which contains no minerals of any sort.