Patient Education Bad Breath

Bad Breath

Most bad breath starts in your mouth, and there are many possible causes. They include:

• Food: The breakdown of food particles in and around your teeth can increase bacteria and cause bad breath. Eating certain foods, such as garlic, onions, and other spices can also cause bad breath. After you digest these foods, they enter your bloodstream, are carried to your lungs and affect your breath.
• Poor dental hygiene: If you don’t brush and floss daily, food particles remain in your mouth, causing bad breath. A colorless, sticky film of bacteria (plaque) forms on your teeth and if it is not brushed away, it can irritate your gums (gingivitis) and eventually form plaque-filled pockets between your teeth and gums (periodontitis). The surface of your tongue can also trap bacteria that produce odors. Also, dentures that aren’t cleaned regularly can harbor odor-causing bacteria and food particles.
• Medications: Some medications can indirectly produce bad breath by contributing to dry mouth. Others can be broken down in the body to release chemicals that can be carried on your breath.
• Dry Mouth: Saliva helps clean your mouth by removing particles that may cause bad breath. A condition called dry mouth (Xerostomia) can contribute to bad breath because the production of saliva is decreased. Dry mouth occurs naturally during sleep, leading to “morning breath” and can be made worse if you sleep with your mouth open. Some medications can lead to a chronic dry mouth, as can problems with your salivary glands and some diseases.
• Mouth Infections: Bad breath can be caused by surgical wounds after oral surgery, extractions, or as a result of dental caries, gum disease or mouth sores.
• Other mouth, nose and throat conditions: Bad breath can occasionally stem from small stones that form in the tonsils and are covered with bacteria that produce odorous chemicals. Infections or chronic inflammation in the nose, sinuses or throat, which can contribute to postnasal drip, can also cause bad breath.
• Other causes: Diseases, such as some cancers, and conditions such as metabolic disorders, can cause a distinctive breath odor as a result of chemicals they produce. Chronic reflux of stomach acids can be associated with bad breath.

Consistently practicing good oral hygiene can help reduce bad breath.

Treatment of Bad Breath

• Mouth rinses and toothpastes: Mouth rinses and toothpastes that include cetylpyridinium chloride and those with chlorhexidine can prevent production of odors that cause bad breath. (Crest Pro-health, Breath RX, Biotene, Act Total Care anticavity fluoride rinse, Therabreath).
• Treatment of dental disease: Gum disease causes the gums to pull away from the teeth leaving pockets that accumulate bacteria. Sometimes these bacteria (calculus/tartar) can only be removed by a professional cleaning.

To Reduce/Prevent Bad Breath:

1. Brush your teeth after you eat.
2. Floss at least once a day.
3. Brush your tongue (with your toothbrush or tongue scraper).
4. Clean your denture or dental appliances.
5. Avoid dry mouth by drinking plenty of water, not coffee, soft drinks or alcohol. Suck on sugarless candy or gum to stimulate saliva.
6. Adjust your diet to avoid food and beverages that cause bad breath.
7. Regularly get a new toothbrush (about every 3–4 months or after illness).
8. Schedule regular dental checkups.

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