No kissing please, bad breath!
Bad breath, also known as halitosis, can be caused by a medical condition. Another cause can be, by not brushing your teeth (in the proper way) or something you ate or drank. Depending on the cause, the bad odour can occur from time to time, or can appear to be long lasting. You might not be aware you have halitosis, so hopefully you have a friend who’s brave enough to tell you. Maybe you need to tell someone else about his or her bad breath. If so, do it kindly and tactfully, as it is an awkward subject.
Self test
To find out if you have a bad breath stick a clean finger in your mouth. Scrape some saliva from your tongue and put in on the back of your hand. Smell your hand after one minute.
Causes of bad breath
Your mouth is the natural habitat of millions of bacteria, particularly on the back of your tongue. These bacteria in most cases are the causes of halitosis. We all know the ‘morning breath’, caused by changes in your mouth while you sleep and the mouth becomes dry. This is a wonderful habitat for the micro organisms that use the dead cells that stick to your tongue and cheeks as a meal. While eating they produce a bad odor.
Other causes of bad breath
-
Lack of proper dental hygiene. Improper brushing or not brushing frequently enough. No flossing so bits of food stick between your teeth and causes foul odour.
Infections in the mouth — these can be caused by either a cavity in a tooth or by periodontal (gum) disease. - Respiratory tract infections — Throat, sinus or lung infections.
- Food such as onion, garlic, fish and coffee. And of course cigarette, cigar of pipe smoking and chewing tobacco.
- Dry mouth. This can be caused by salivary gland problems, medicines or breathing with your mouth.
- Some medicine also can cause dry mouth.
- Illnesses. There are some illnesses such as liver- or lung diseases, sinus- or reflux diseases and others. Also an ulcer can cause bad breath.
Visit your doctor or dentist if your bad breath is frequent or if you’re concerned about it.
What can you do about it?
- Brush your teeth at least twice a day and don’t forget to brush your tongue! One of the easiest tools to use for that purpose is a tongue scraper. It’s made a huge difference, especially in dental hygiene, as one would go to bed after brushing teeth and then just re-coat the teeth with all the crap left on the tongue. Tongue scrapers have been shown to clean the tongue much better than brushing and you don’t contaminate the toothbrush at the same time. Cleaning your tonque will reduce bad breath by 70%.
- Floss at least once a day. Visit a dentist minimum once a year.
- Rince with a mouthwash.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Chew sugar-free gum or eat sugar-free breath mints. They can help to prevent plaque from forming. Be aware that sugar free gum or mints contain sorbitol that may cause side effects like diarrhea and bloating.
- Eat yogurt and/or parsley. Yogurt replenishes the good bacteria in the stomach. Parsley reportedly has antibacterial and antifungal properties.
