📄 Archived: 2026-01-19 15:07:08 UTC
🔗 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/w7Hcg8uWQMSdkNuQj/lumina-probiotic-worked-for-me

# Lumina Probiotic worked for me!

In September, I applied Lumina probiotic[1]to my mouth. I did this around noon. I noticed effects within six hours. Usually my mouth would begin developing a... taste even just a few hours after I brushed my teeth. But at 6 pm that day, there was no off taste! And at midnight -- after dinner but before brushing my teeth -- still no off taste or bad breath. I kissed my girlfriend at the time, who remarked that my mouth tasted different. I brushed my teeth and went to bed around 1 am.

A strange thing happened. As I lay in bed, I began feeling some kind of sensation in my mouth. It's difficult to describe. It wasn't constant; it would come in waves or pulses. Sometimes it felt like nothing in particular -- maybe I was just being hyperaware of my mouth, like if somebody had told me to pay attention to what my tongue feels like. Sometimes it felt like... definitely something. It's not a sensation I had ever felt before, or have felt since the first few days of Lumina. The closest comparison I can make is to the feeling pineapple gives your tongue. It was slightly unpleasant and distracting. I actually woke up multiple times that night and I'm pretty sure it was due to that feeling in my mouth/tongue, because the feeling was the first thing I noticed when waking. I got a bit of this feeling the next day and night as well. And then it went away.

My Oral Background: I've had somewhat bad teeth my whole life. I had lots of cavities as a kid (but I didn't brush, lol). As an adult (I'm in my late 20s) I've had a few cavities. Before Lumina, my mouth would get an off taste very quickly after cleaning -- like, I'd start noticing in an hour (regardless of whether I ate). My teeth also would get "grimy" (non smooth feeling) in a few hours. In general I felt like I got bad breath significantly faster than other people. I had bad breath in the morning. I also had problems with my tongue; I had to tongue scrape twice (sometimes more!) a day, and a lot of stuff would come off. I didn't have any infections, this was just my life. I didn't have these mouth taste and tongue problems when I was a kid or teenager; they seemed to develop when I was about 20 and got worse over time.

Post Lumina: I wake up without bad breath. I only get an off taste in my mouth if my mouth has been dry or I ate something funky. This off taste is not accompanied by bad breath. I still have to tongue scrape regularly, and if I don't then I do get bad breath. In general my mouth just feels a whole lot cleaner. I haven't noticed any mild tooth pain from acidity or hot/cold (which I would occasionally get pre-Lumina).

1. ^