Propolis Recommended for Halitosis and Gingivitis

Buzzing to a Different Beat
By Rebecca Aldous, Victoria News (Canada), 3/4/2009

…Defayette moves over to a workbench by the door, seeking to prove me wrong. On it lies a rectangular box with frames slotted into it. Each one is covered in wax honeycombs and although empty, the smell of honey haunts them.

Picking out one frame, Defayette scratches a reddish goo from the wooden surface with his finger nail. The substance folds on itself like fudge scraped off a spoon.

“Propolis,” he says, before putting his finger in his mouth.

Bees collect propolis from tree buds and sap flows, he explains. It holds anti-fungal and antibiotic qualities and the bees spread it around the entrance to their hives, sparing them from infections.

While talking Defayette digs a small blue bottle out of a cardboard box, untwists the top and fills an eyedropper with a dark brown liquid.

“This is propolis with alcohol,” he says, placing the open bottle under my nose.

A strong scent races up my nostrils, kicking me back to the moment I first smelled vodka. Defayette places the eyedropper on his tongue.

“I love it,” he says. “It kills halitosis and gingivitis.”…