Background: Around 30% of the adult population has problems with Halitosis. Halitosis is caused by volatile sulfur compounds (VSC) by bacteria. The aim of this study was to evaluate the short term effect on halitosis using a zinc-lacete-chlorhexidine containing mouth rinse (SB12). Materials and methods: Twenty-five adults with halitosis were included in a clinical randomized double blind cross over study. Four test periods, each 2 weeks long separated by washout periods of 1 week was used to evaluate 4 treatments: A) SB12, B) placebo C) SB12 + tongue scraper, and D) placebo + tongue scraper. Registration of VSC using a Halimeter was done at Day 1 before rinsing, immediately after rinsing, after 30 minutes and at Day 14. Results: A reduction on VSC 30 min following treatment compared to baseline was found for substance A, C, D (P < 0.000). A reduction at Day 14 was only found for substance A (P < 0.004). Comparing treatments, significant differences was found at all time points between A and B (P < 0.01, P < 0.003, P < 0.042 respectively) and between C and B immediately after rinsing and 30 min after rinsing (P < 0.008, P < 0.003). There was non significant difference between treatment A and C or between treatments B and D. Conclusion: Rinsing with a zinc-lacete - chlorhexidine containing mouth rinse (SB12) demonstrated short term reductions of VSC. Tongue scraper alone had a limited effect on oral halitosis. The addition of tongue cleaning using a tongue scraper did not improve the results obtained by rinsing alone.