While everyone gets bad breath, getting rid of yours may take more than a simple breath mint.
No one is immune to bad breath, especially when just waking up. To most, morning breath might seem like an inconvenience. They use a breath mint or brush their teeth after breakfast before leaving for work and don’t think about their lousy breath for the rest of the day. However, not all bad breath can be fixed so easily. It can follow you throughout the day. Frequent bad breath, generally known as halitosis, can be a symptom of dental or general health issues on the horizon, depending on the cause.
If you or your loved ones notice that you consistently suffer from bad breath, be sure to check your oral hygiene habits and other parts of your daily routine. You may need to improve your lifestyle, such as cleaning your tongue and teeth after meals, flossing your teeth, and drinking more water. Others may need to cut down on their alcohol consumption or quit smoking. If after those improvements your bad breath continues, see your dentist. After a thorough examination, your dentist may conclude that bad breath results from a more severe illness. In these cases, they can refer you to a doctor to determine your bad breath’s source.
What Causes Bad Breath?
Poor Dental Hygiene
When you eat food, it attracts oral bacteria that create a foul odor as the food particles in and around your teeth breakdown. Lapsed and inadequate brushing and flossing lead to these food particles staying in your mouth longer and your stinky breath becoming stronger. A colorless, sticky bacterial film, which you know as dental plaque, appears on the teeth and starts attacking the enamel. Bacteria can also become trapped on your tongue and in other nooks and crannies of your mouth. Some patients may still have bad breath shortly after brushing their teeth if they forget to brush their tongue or use mouthwash.
While plaque initially starts on the tooth’s visible crown, it can quickly slip below the gum line and infect the soft tissues as gingivitis forms. Deep gum pockets can form between the teeth and soft tissues, quickly trapping more stinky food, debris, and plaque. Over time, routinely poor oral hygiene and chronic bad breath can be warning signs of dental health problems like tooth decay, periodontal disease, or a dental abscess.
Your Diet
While all foods lead to plaque and eventually bad breath, certain foods are stinky on their own without needing bacteria and plaque to collect on your teeth. Foods like onions, garlic, and spices enter your bloodstream after digestion and travel to the lungs, where it’s easy for you to breathe out stinky carbon dioxide.
Dry Mouth
Saliva aids in the cleansing of the mouth by eliminating contaminants that produce odors. A dry mouth can lead to poor breath due to reduced saliva production. Dry mouth occurs naturally while sleeping, resulting in “morning breath,” which is exacerbated if you sleep with the mouth open. Problems with your salivary glands and certain diseases like diabetes may cause chronic dry mouth.
Smoking and Tobacco Use
Smoking induces an offensive breath odor. However, smokeless tobacco can do this, too, as the tobacco rests directly against the gums. Tobacco users and smoking patients also often have gingivitis as nicotine and tar are absorbed into the soft tissues.
Additional Causes
A variety of diseases and illnesses can cause bad breath. Respiratory infections like bronchitis and pneumonia, chronic sinus infections, postnasal drip, diabetes, and liver or kidney problems are just a few to be aware of. Halitosis is also associated with chronic acid reflux and other gastrointestinal issues. Additionally, mouth infections from gingivitis, cavities, sores, or oral surgery complications can cause lousy breath.
Treating Your Bad Breath
When looking for a bad breath cure, dental mints aren’t enough for more than a brief reprieve. They may mask the problem, but they don’t solve it. And if you don’t look for sugar-free ones, relying on mints can put you at risk for tooth decay. You should instead focus on these halitosis treatments that address the root causes of your bad breath problem.
Proper Dental Hygiene Routine
Brush with fluoride toothpaste twice a day to clear food waste and plaque. Brush your teeth after each meal, and try to keep a toothbrush at work or school to brush after lunch if you can. Don’t miss the tongue with your brush either and remember to replace the toothbrush after two or three months or after an infection. Remove food debris and plaque between teeth once a day with floss. If you haven’t flossed in a while, you may experience slight gingival bleeding from developing gingivitis. However, this will usually clear up within two weeks as you fully remove the plaque buildup under your gums.
Mouthwash
An often forgotten part of a healthy hygiene routine is mouthwash. While it’s no substitute for old-fashioned brushing and flossing, it can help boost their effects. There are two types of rinses—cosmetic and therapeutic. Cosmetic mouthwash only freshens bad breath, while therapeutic ones go to the root problem and work to prevent the dental issues causing bad breath. Most of these rinses come with fluoride, essential oils, and other ingredients designed to kill oral bacteria and reverse early tooth decay and gingivitis.
You should use mouthwash twice a day after your regular brushing and flossing routine. Just make sure to wait at least 30 minutes if you use fluoride toothpaste. Otherwise, you may wash the mineral off your smile before it has a chance of being absorbed into the enamel. If you have a mouth sore or oral infection, your dentist may prescribe a special mouth rinse known as “magic mouthwash” to help the ulcer heal. For patients with dry mouth, be sure to find a mouthwash that doesn’t contain alcohol. Alcohol dries out the mouth, and it can lead to your bad breath problem worsening if you’re not careful.
Regular Dental Cleanings
Routine dental cleanings are a crucial part of maintaining a healthy smile, too. It’s not enough to brush and floss your teeth. Dental plaque and bacteria gradually collect on your teeth, even with great hygiene habits. A dental hygienist clears away all plaque stuck on your teeth and below the gums during a cleaning appointment. Those with periodontitis may require a deep cleaning to remove pockets of trapped food and debris below the gum line. You can also request professional fluoride treatment that is stronger and more effective than toothpastes and mouthwashes.
After the cleaning, your dentist will thoroughly examine your smile to ensure your smile is in good health. If not, we can diagnose any problems that appear along the way. From there, your dentist can plan future treatments you may need. These typically fix dental cavities, periodontal disease, chronic dry mouth, tooth abscesses, and other issues causing your bad breath.
Is it OK to go to the dentist once a year? No, you should see your hygienist at least twice annually to prevent plaque accumulation from turning into a cavity or gum disease. Some patients with a history of frequent or severe dental issues may need to come in more often, such as every three or four months. This will allow us to catch any future problems that arise early and prevent them from becoming painful or causing permanent damage to your smile.
Staying Hydrated
Whether you have a dry mouth or not, be sure to drink plenty of water. Water helps wash away food particles, plaque, and bacteria from your teeth. It also encourages your mouth to produce the amount of saliva it needs to naturally protect your teeth from these cavity bugs. Another way to get your mouth to make more saliva is with sugarless chewing gum or hard candies. However, don’t use ones with sugar. They can just as easily reverse all the good their sugar-free counterparts do, leading to tooth decay and dental cavities. The best gums and mints include xylitol.
How Can I Tell If I Have A Dental Emergency?
With more severe and chronic bad breath cases, your halitosis is a sign of a developing dental emergency. Gingivitis, early tooth decay, and bleeding gums don’t need immediate treatment. Still, they will if you don’t follow the above treatments, and the issue is left to worsen. Please see a dentist as soon as possible if you experience any of these worrying symptoms:
Persistent toothache
Visible hole in the tooth
Tooth pain when chewing or biting down
New gaps appearing between teeth
Bite’s shape changing
Pimple on the gums
Loose teeth
What procedures can dentists do? Depending on the emergency, you will likely need dental work such as fillings, crowns, root canals, pocket reduction surgery, and tissue grafts. If you need to schedule an appointment with us at Bellflower Dental Group, you can reach our office at (323) 486-6579 today.
