Causes of Halitosis

            Have you ever awakened with a dry mouth that tastes kind of like a cross between steaming cow manure and rotten eggs? This is because your salivary flow is diminished while you sleep and bacteria have an opportunity to grow. If it tastes like that to you, can you imagine what it smells like to someone else causes of halitosis? You’ll really know who your true friends are when you exhale causes of halitosis. Let’s assume your bad breath is caused by “dry mouth,” which simply means that there is a lack of saliva in your mouth. The saliva, in addition to helping you to swallow and start the digestive process, actually helps to mechanically wash away the gobs of bacteria that accumulate in the mouth. Lack of saliva allows the grubby bacteria to stay put, flourish, stink and create cavities causes of halitosis.

Frequent brushing is extremely important to people with chronic dry mouth. Brushing is important, period. And guess what? Miracle of miracles, in addition to reducing the possibility of getting cavities, brushing also happens to minimize bad breath.

It all really boils down to a few basics. Follow a proper home oral-care program, which includes tooth and tongue brushing, flossing, using a Water Pik and causes of halitosis

keeping your mouth moist. See your dentist routinely. Breath sprays and mints are not forbidden fruit causes of halitosis.

If bad breath truly can’t be controlled by these simple methods and neither you nor your dentist can determine the cause, you should seriously consider seeing your family physician and having him check for other possible causes not originating directly from the mouth.

Treatment for bad breath can be extremely simple. Most everything is keyed into cleaning and moistening the mouth causes of halitosis. Dry mouth and poor oral care, which both promote bacterial growth, are leading causes of bad breath causes of halitosis. If the following treatments are properly and routinely followed, they can virtually eliminate those embarrassing moments when the world backs away from you rather rapidly each time you open your mouth and say h-h-h-e-e-e-l-l-l-o-o-o. Brush your teeth properly. Bad breath can be caused by poor brushing habits causes of halitosis. What an astonishing observation. Isn’t that absolutely mind boggling?

Brush your teeth in an up and down motion, starting with the back teeth on one side, coming around to the front teeth and continuing to the back teeth on the other side. This should be done on both the cheek surfaces of the teeth as well as the surfaces that face the tongue. Finally, brush across the chewing surfaces causes of halitosis. Proper brushing should take a good few minutes causes of halitosis. If you have problems understanding my description of the brushing procedure, your dentist and his hygienist can instruct you in the proper techniques causes of halitosis. This is one of those situations whereby a demonstration is worth a thousand words causes of halitosis.

Routine use of baking soda is excellent as it helps reduce the bacterial count in the mouth. Dissolve a small amount in warm water placed in the “Water Pik.” The Water what causes of halitosis?

Brush your tongue causes of halitosis. Most people won’t even consider tongue brushing to help keep the mouth clean. The top of the tongue is loaded with bacteria and dead tissue cells. This is also a major cause of bad breath. The tongue should be brushed along with the teeth, especially in the morning. A few gentle strokes from back to front will be sufficient. Stick your tongue out and start as far back on the tongue as is practical

You don’t have to brush back to your tonsils causes of halitosis! Even if you Were to brush from the midpoint forward, it would be beneficial.

I suggested this to a patient once causes of halitosis. The patient



had a very Strong gag reflex and explained to me that the tongue brushing triggered this reflex, which caused her to throw up almost every time she tried to brush her tongue causes of halitosis. This, of course, didn’t do too much for the bad breath problem. After questioning her, I found that she was starting way too far back. She was brushing so far back that her toothbrush was touching that little dangling thing (uvula, for the trivia buffs) in the back of her mouth. Not necessary causes of halitosis.

Try sucking on sugarless candies. They all tend to create saliva and some don’t taste too bad either. Make certain that they are sugarless, because mixing sugar with the dry mouth syndrome is like putting a fox in the hen house causes of halitosis. You’re asking for trouble, just pleading for tooth decay causes of halitosis.

Keep a bottle of water with you. Frequent sipping will obviously moisten the mouth and this is often all that is necessary to minimize, if not eliminate, bad breath associated with dry mouth. Don’t gulp massive amounts. Sipping will do causes of halitosis. Before swallowing, gently swish the water around in your mouth.

Chewing sugar free gum is excellent and tends to create copious amounts of saliva causes of halitosis.

There are a number of commercial products available on theru4et that can be purchased without a prescription that will help to keep the mouth moist and help reduce bad breath. Thy usually come in a spray bottle and are advertised as “moisturizers” or “saliva substitutes.” Person- ally, I like gum or sugarless candies causes of halitosis. They taste better, they are cheaper and are more readily available causes of halitosis.

Use mouthwashes, breath sprays and mints. These and other deodorants for the mouth are, for the most part, stop- gap remedies, but I like them. They are temporary at best, lasting maybe ten to fifteen minutes. They’re harmless and can be very effective for those “intimate moments,” as long as they don’t become “intimate hours.” So, even though they are brief corrections, you won’t be hurting anything by using them. I don’t care which you use. Sprays, drops, mints, anything that helps. Besides, they taste good.

Mouthwashes containing zinc may be better than others because the zinc slows down the formation of sulfur corn- pounds. Sulfur can promote bad breath. Read your labels.

Tooth decay must be corrected. Cavities mean rotten teeth causes of halitosis. Rotten teeth stink. Get the cavities filled. Sorry, this book can’t help you there.

Gum disease must be stopped. This goes hand in hand with lack of brushing and lack of proper professional care, as does the decay problem causes of halitosis. Again, can’t help you here. Gotta see the dentist causes of halitosis.

If you wear dentures, keep them spotlessly clean. Brush and care for them like they were your own teeth. There are special tooth pastes that will help keep them clean and fresh.

Quit smoking. Any questions about this one?

There are some conditions under which bad breath can actually be expected and should be considered as normal. We need not concern ourselves with these causes, other than to mention them, because for the most part they are self- correcting causes of halitosis. They are as follows:

. after a recently extracted tooth,

. with a cold or sore throat,

. with a sinus infection, and

. after a good hearty meal loaded with garlic.

These causes are all essentially self-limiting.

Bad breath can also be caused by non-oral problems, such as stomach and lung disorders, as well as other systemic ailments. These are medical conditions that are not within the scope of this publication causes of halitosis. Go see your physician.

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