Gum vs. Toothbrush: What's the Secret to Fresh Breath on the Go?

From sugar-free gum to a disposable toothbrush, here’s a comprehensive list of all the ways you can maintain your oral health and fresh breath on the go!

There are some well-known ways to keep your breath fresh when traveling. Carrying a pack of gum, listerine strips, and a small bottle of mouthwash probably is one of the more common methods. However, not all of these methods are equally effective and there are constantly new products hitting the market that make it easier to maintain fresh breath on the go. 

With so many ways to freshen your breath, it can be hard to know which is best. Maybe you’ve been struggling to find something that works, wondering what secrets others have to maintaining good teeth and clean breath. R8

Maybe you’re wondering if there’s a secret no one else has told you…a magical toothbrush or everlasting sugar-free gum that prevents coffee breath and stains from ever happening, possibly?

So, what is the secret to fresh breath on the go? The truth is there are many ways to keep your breath fresh when traveling. You just have to figure out which one works best for you. That’s why we’re going through some of the many ways you can keep your breath fresh while traveling, from products that help to mask bad breath to toothbrushes that maintain oral hygiene without the need for toothpaste or water!

Keep reading to find out more about maintaining fresh breath on the go with products like:

• Gum (unfortunately not ever-lasting or coffee-combatting)
• A travel toothbrush
• Mouthwash tablets
• Breath lozenges
• And other oral hygiene tools that you can use to maintain fresh breath on the go. 

Using gum to freshen your breath

Sugar-free gum is great for collecting food particles and masking bad breath.

Gum is certainly the easiest solution to freshening your breath on the go. Chewing gum can help to get food out from between your teeth as well as freshening your breath.

Sugar-free gum and breath mints are great for freshening your breath with mint without exposing your mouth to sugar, which can allow for odor-causing bacteria to build up on the surface of your mouth. 

While gum can help to freshen your breath, it doesn’t last long and doesn’t stop the odor-causing bacteria from forming. Rather, it masks the scent for a little while until you can brush your teeth. 

Carry a travel toothbrush to freshen your breath

FreshTips Disposable Toothbrushes bring convenience to a classic travel tool.

Carrying a travel toothbrush is another great way to keep your breath fresh on the go. Of course, a toothbrush requires you to carry toothpaste or toothpaste tablets along with you. 

Carrying a travel toothbrush also requires you to have time to brush your teeth and a place to store your toothbrush when you’re not using it. Unless, you grab a pack of FreshTips Disposable Mini Toothbrushes. 

These tiny toothbrushes need no toothpaste and no water and their soft rubber bristles are gentle on your enamel and cleans your teeth. They even come with a sugar-free ring candy that freshens your breath and a pick that you can use to get rid of tough-to-reach food particles. 

Fresh Tips disposable mini toothbrush is a perfect travel tool for maintaining oral health and fresh breath, with a sugar-free candy ring that freshens your breath and soft rubber bristles that gently cleans your teeth.

Mouthwash tablets are great for fast fresh breath

Mouthwash tablets and strips are great for masking bad breath.

Listerine mouthwash tablets are probably one of the best known inventions for fresh breath of all time. Or maybe, that’s just my opinion. After all, I did go through them as if they were candy when I first discovered them in fifth grade. That’s beside the point. 

Mouthwash tablets are perfect for giving your mouth a minty mask quickly. They are typically in very compact little containers that you can easily store in a pocket or purse and they are as powerful as they are practical. 

The only thing you need to be aware of with mouthwash tablets is not overdoing it. Mouthwash is astringent and contains many ingredients that dry out your mouth if used in excess. 

Chronic dry mouth can become a perfect home for lots of odor causing bacteria, so it’s important to keep your mouth hydrated if you do use mouthwash tablets regularly. 

Throat and mouth spray

Sprays and drops stop bad breath at the back of your mouth. 

We’ve all seen movie scenes in which a character sprays their mouth with a quick burst of breath freshening spray as they prepare for a date or at a slightly awkward moment for comedic effect. 

Sometimes they even use perfume. But we don’t recommend using that for a lot of reasons. Luckily, there are plenty of great breath freshening sprays, and even drops, that can help to make your mouth minty fresh with just a few drops. 

While spray bottles may be larger and less convenient compared to the compact containers of mouthwash tablets or gum packets, breath freshening drops are small and easy to carry with you. 

Just don’t get the bottle confused with your eye drops or you will be in for a very unpleasant experience. 

Breath lozenges

Lozenges aren’t just great for soothing sore-throats, new breath lozenges are all about battling bad bacteria in your mouth. 

Breath lozenges, like gum or mints, are great for masking bad breath and can also help to prevent dry mouth. The active ingredients xylitol and zinc attack the odor-causing bacteria and the fresh flavors help to stimulate saliva production.

Unlike mouthwash tablets, breath lozenges can be found in a range of flavors, so if you don’t like mint but still want fresh breath, this might just be the product for you. Therabreath breath lozenges have flavors like tart berry and citrus mint, if you are more interested in fruity freshness. 

Dental Probiotics

While they may look like every other dental tablet on the market, these powerful probiotics do more than just mask bad breath. They tackle everything that causes it. 

While this product may look no different than the many mouthwash tablets, mints, or lozenges on the market, a dental probiotic attacks bad breath in a different way. It is a dietary supplement that helps to reinforce the amount of good bacteria in your mouth. 

You may be wondering why you’d want to encourage any bacteria to grow in your mouth, even the good kind. But, good bacteria plays a crucial role in your overall dental health and increasing the amount of good bacteria in your mouth overwhelms and prevents the amount of bad bacteria from increasing. 

Aside from increasing the amount of good bacteria in your mouth, most dental probiotics also help with such things as Ph balance, gum disease prevention, and defense against decay, all of which prevent bad breath in the long run. 

Dental probiotics not only freshen your breath with mint, they also provide support to your gums and teeth and help to maintain your mouth’s general health. 

So, is there a secret to fresh breath?

Honestly, there’s not much of a secret. There are many ways to keep your breath fresh on the go and maintain oral hygiene. 

Whether you decide to carry a pack of sugar-free gum, mouthwash strips or tablets, or a pack of FreshTips toothbrushes, there are many options for maintaining fresh breath and even a few options that help maintain your overall oral health. 

That said, the best thing you can do to maintain fresh breath is build a structured and regular oral hygiene routine. Brushing and flossing twice a day, rinsing with mouthwash and water, and even using a tongue scraper can help to keep a baseline of cleanliness. 

Other things you can do to keep your breath as fresh as possible is cut down on foods and drinks such as caffeine, alcohol, and sugar substances and add more fruits and vegetables into your diet. Many vegetables act as natural teeth cleaners and help to increase the amount of saliva that you produce naturally.

If you have tried all of these things and continue to have bad breath, it may be a good idea to consult your doctor. Persistent bad breath that is unaffected by a change in diet or dental care may be a sign of an underlying health condition and treatment may be necessary. 

Take the stress of sour breath out of your schedule with any or all of these methods.