Bad Breath

Dealing with bad breath can be really tough. If you are reading this article, you probably have a suspicion that you may be dealing with bad breath. What are the signs that you are dealing with bad breath, and trying to find a way of dealing with bad breath?

It’s extremely difficult to know whether you have bad breath, which makes dealing with bad breath harder. If you try cupping your hand over your face and smelling the result, you’ll probably just end up smelling your hand. We can’t generally smell our breath, as we would find it hard to detect other smells if our breath was the dominant smell to us – it is a natural function to filter out our own smell. However, if people turn their heads when you talk to them, or offer you mints, it’s likely that you have a problem. You’ll need to start dealing with bad breath.

Mouthwashes can seem to help in dealing with bad breath, but the results are only temporary, and are really just a covering up of the problem.

Assuming that you are otherwise healthy, then dealing with bad breath may be possible without a physician or dentist getting involved. You shouldn’t hesitate to involve a professional, however, if you find that you have other symptoms, such as sore gums, or infections.

The majority of bad breath cases arise out of the bacteria in the mouth, which create sulfurous compounds that are smelly. These bacteria are required for our normal functioning, as they pre-digest food before it passes to the stomach, but sometimes they can become overactive, resulting in bad breath. The bacteria are anaerobic, which means “without oxygen”, so they do not need or want oxygen to flourish – saliva contains oxygen, so a lack of saliva, or dry mouth, will create a better environment for the bacteria and lead to more chance of bad breath.

If you have a dry mouth, then you should find some relief dealing with bad breath if you can identify and deal with the cause of the dry mouth. Sometimes it will be simple – morning breath will commonly arise because of breathing through the mouth while asleep. If you have allergies and take antihistamines, they are probably causing a dry mouth, and you may want to try and find an alternative method of relieving the allergies. Other recommendations include making sure that you drink enough water, not drinking too much alcohol, and not smoking, all of which can affect your saliva production.

Another method of dealing with bad breath from the mouth bacteria is to brush both the roof of the mouth and the tongue while brushing your teeth. It should go without saying that oral hygiene is important in dealing with bad breath, and you should brush and floss regularly.

Paul Potts tells that he had a bad case of bad breath when he had appendicitis.

For those who are not familiar, he is the guy that won Britian’s Got Talent with his singing of Nessun Dorma.

Appendicitis and bad breath, now that’s quite a serious connection.

LINK

Good oral hygiene is the foremost protection against bad breath. If the mouth is not taken care of then all other efforts are in vain. The Independent outlines some of the common things you can do to take care of your mouth.

• Brush: twice a day at least
• Floss: gently between the teeth
• Rinse: with mouthwash, but avoid those with alcohol
• Chew gum: sugar-free and immediately after a meal is best
• Food: avoid sugar as it attacks your teeth and encourages bacteria growth

There is even a recipe for homemade toothpaste and even homemade mouthwash that is worth a go. Try it out.

LINK

The cures for bad breath that you use will depend on several factors. The cures for bad breath depend on how bad it is and what the precise symptoms are. For instance, cures for bad breath in the morning, commonly called “morning breath”, which results from sleeping with the mouth open and drying out the mouth, which creates a environment in which the bacteria thrive are not easily treated. There is little point looking for cures for bad breath about the method of breathing while sleeping – but this may not be a large problem, as the bad breath will be worst first thing in the morning, and may diminish later in the day, meaning cures for bad breath are less needed.

Generally, as mentioned above, a dry mouth can cause an environment that encourages the growth of the bacteria that cause bad breath. The bacteria are natural and necessary for our normal function. They pre-process food on the way to the stomach, and so it is not an option to try to eliminate the bacteria. Cures for bad breath will try to reduce their activity.

One way of keeping a more moist mouth, which is one of the simple cures for bad breath, is simply to drink more water. If we are tending to dehydration, then the mouth will get drier. Various other activities with the mouth also add to the drying effect. Smoking is one action that should be avoided, and not just for this reason, as the general deleterious effects are well documented. Drinking alcohol also dries out the mouth.

The bacteria are active with a protein rich diet, so reducing your protein intake helps to keep their activity in control. This means eating only a modest amount of meat and sticking to a low fat diet rich in vegetables and fruits. If you are accustomed to skipping meals, whether from lack of time or a desire to reduce weight, try to adjust to more regular mealtimes, even if the “meal” turns out to be just a snack. Chewing food increases saliva flow, and suppresses the bacterial activity.

An obvious one of the cures for bad breath is to maintain good mouth hygiene. This requires regular brushing to remove plaque and food particles after each meal, so keep a toothbrush at work if necessary. When brushing your teeth, also clean the roof of the mouth and the tongue with the brush and toothpaste, this will help to dislodge too much build-up of the smell production. Flossing between the teeth should be done once a day.

If you try all the items mentioned above with little effect, or you have a chronic bad breath problem, you need more sever cures for bad breath, so see your dentist or doctor to find out what other action is needed.

Well, this little device claims to be able to reduce your bad breath. This disc of stainless steel relies on the story that chefs often use stainless steel to remove fish odors and the like from their hands. Apparently the bad odors stick to certain metals in the stainless steel.

Would you like to shove a cold little disc in your mouth, well we’ll see. Remember, though, that most bad breath comes from your lungs after a meal with lots of garlic or onions. This won’t help that.

But with its small size it might be an alternative for those that can’t get hold of a toothbrush when they are out and about, or if you just like to try little gadgets.

LINK

If you are seeking bad breath treatment, your bad breath treatment should probably start with a visit to your dentist. Bad breath treatment in many cases is related to oral hygiene and disease, and your dentist will advise you to visit your physician for bad breath treatment if the smell is not related to oral health.

If you are in the habit of visiting the dentist at regular intervals, such as every six months which is generally recommended, then keeping up your oral cleanliness in between visits will generally help significantly in reducing the risk of bad breath. Your daily regime should include brushing after every meal, including brushing the roof of the mouth and the tongue, if you have already identified a problem. You can use a standard toothbrush and toothpaste. Daily flossing is also important for bad breath treatment in keeping up the standard of oral hygiene.

Your dentist may refer you to a periodontist, who is a specialist in gum disease (periodontal disease) for bad breath treatment.

Other conditions which may require medical intervention include various diseases and illnesses, particularly respiratory and nasal problems. One cause of bad breath is a nasal drip, which impacts on the mouth’s bacteria at the back of the mouth and provides a protein rich source which stimulates the bacteria causing the bad breath. It goes without saying that you should seek professional advice if you believe that you have an infection going on.

On the other hand, if you suffer generally from bad breath, there are some things that you can do for yourself which may reduce or eliminate the problem.

Firstly, you should become more aware of what enters your mouth. Smelly foods, containing garlic or onions for example, are likely to cause a bad breath occurrence until they are eliminated naturally from your system, and a doctor’s visit for bad breath treatment would seem inappropriate. If you smoke, this is likely to cause bad breath, and the answer to this is equally obvious.

Anytime that your mouth becomes dry, this encourages the bacteria which can cause bad breath. Bad breath treatment involves keeping your mouth more moist by ensuring that you drink plenty of water and eat regularly, which stimulates the production of saliva. If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation, as that has a mouth drying effect overall.

Mouthwashes may appear to helpful for bad breath treatment, but they do so only temporarily, masking the smell. Be aware that when looking for bad breath treatment, that many mouthwashes have an alcohol content, which will dry out the mouth, as noted above.

There are several bad breath causes, and if you have a real problem with smelly breath you may want to consult your physician about those bad breath causes. The following is general advice, and refers to the likeliest bad breath causes.

The principal bad breath cause is associated with bacteria in the mouth. This can flourish when the saliva flow in the mouth is reduced. Saliva neutralizes the acids produced by plaque, and washes away the dead cells. Saliva also performs the very necessary task of flushing out the mouth, and removing food particles, so any reduction in saliva flow inhibits this action, becoming a bad breath cause.

Saliva can be reduced for a number of reasons. Some of these are easily preventable, and others are not. The flow of saliva reduces naturally as we get older, making us more prone to bad breath. Also when we are dehydrated, the moisture in the mouth reduces naturally. Another natural cause of dry mouth is breathing through the mouth, which is particularly prevalent with some people when asleep and snoring. This contributes to the “morning breath” syndrome.

Certain diseases and illnesses can similarly contribute to bad breath. Any infection that affects the respiratory tract can be a cause of bad breath, as well as many other diseases.

Some medications can cause dry mouth. The most common is probably the antihistamine, taken to relieve allergies. Some others include high blood pressure and depression medicines. Other things that can be ingested that affect the dryness of the mouth include alcohol and mouthwashes that contain alcohol.

Cigarette smoking is also a very quick way to dry out the mouth. For many reasons unrelated to bad breath, it is wise to avoid smoking, as has been documented extensively elsewhere. With a predisposition to bad breath, however, the habit of smoking virtually guarantees that you will suffer from bad breath.

The bacteria that cause bad breath are naturally occurring in the mouth. They are anaerobic, which means “without oxygen”. As saliva provides oxygen the lack of saliva with a dry mouth makes a more favorable environment for the bacteria to increase, aggravating the bad breath.

The bacteria create sulfurous compounds, such as hydrogen sulfide (the bad egg smell) which are the cause of the smelly breath. The bacteria assist in the digestive process by starting the breakdown of proteins. Thus another bad breath cause is a high protein diet, which feeds the bacteria.

You should be able to identify your bad breath cause but if you can’t, seeking professional help to fix your bad breath cause is recommended.

Japanese company NTT DoCoMo / Mitsubishi have a cellphone that includes a pedometer and pulse rate monitor. It will measure all sorts of things, like bad breath and body fat content.

So, if you’re hyper paranoid, this might help you to calm down a little and keep your wits about you.

LINK