Bad Breath

The Top Five Causes of Bad Breath: Expert Advice from All Smiles Dental Care, Phoenix

Jul 07, 2023

Bad breath or halitosis can result from poor oral hygiene but also has other reasons like health conditions, xerostomia, heartburn, or diseases in other parts of the body. Treatment for halitosis hinges on the underlying cause of the condition.

Bad breath is embarrassing and can also cause anxiety in some cases. You can find remedies to overcome lousy breath by looking at store shelves overflowing with gum, mints, mouthwashes, and other products, claiming they can fight halitosis. Unfortunately, these products are merely temporary measures because they do not manage the root cause of the problem.

You can improve bad breath with consistent dental hygiene. However, if homecare techniques to resolve the problem do not help, you must see a dentist near you or a physician to determine whether a more severe condition is causing your bad breath.

Symptoms of Bad Breath

Lousy odors vary depending on the source of the underlying reason. For example, you may worry about your bad breath, even though you may have little or no mouth smell, while others may have chronic bad breath and have no knowledge about it. As it is challenging to assess your bad breath, it helps to ask a friend or family member to confirm questions about it.

If you think you have lousy breath, you can review your oral hygiene practices and try making lifestyle changes like brushing your teeth and tongue after every meal, using dental floss, and drinking plenty of water. However, if the bad breath persists despite the changes, see the dentist in Phoenix for an assessment. The dentist may direct you to a physician if they suspect a severe condition is the cause of the lousy breath to determine the underlying reasons for the disease.

The Top Five Causes for Lousy Breath

Bad breath emanates from the mouth and has several different causes. The top five among them include the following:

  1. Food: the meltdown of food particles in and around your teeth can cause an increase in bacteria, resulting in bad breath. Some foods like onions, garlic, and spices are also reasons for the foul odor. When you digest these foods, they enter your bloodstream and are transported to your lungs, affecting your breath.
  2. Poor Dental Hygiene: bacteria build up in your mouth if you don’t brush and floss daily because food particles remain on and between your teeth to cause a foul odor. Not brushing and flossing daily causes a sticky film of bacteria to form in your teeth, irritating your gums and eventually creating pockets between them to fill them with dental plaque. Your tongue can also trap bacteria to produce odors. If you wear dentures and do not clean them regularly or are ill-fitting, they can harbor or cause bacteria and food particles.
  3. Tobacco Use: smoking causes an unpleasant odor in your mouth besides making you vulnerable to gum disease, another reason to develop bad breath.
  4. Medications: some medicines can indirectly make your breath appear lousy by contributing to a dry mouth. Other medications are broken down in the body, releasing chemicals carried to your breath to make it smell bad.
  5. Other causes: diseases like some cancers and issues like metabolic disorders can result in a distinctive foul odor from your breath because of the chemicals they produce. Chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD is also associated with bad breath, besides respiratory diseases. Children may also develop bad breath from foreign bodies like a piece of food lodged in the nostril.

Diagnosing Bad Breath

The nearby dentist will likely smell the bad breath from your mouth and nose to rate the odor on a scale. The back of your tongue is also the source of foul odor, making the dentist scrape it for rating.

Treatment for Halitosis

To help reduce lousy breath, prevent cavities, and minimize your risk of gum disease, the dentist suggests practicing good oral hygiene consistently if the condition results from dental health issues. However, if underlying health conditions cause a foul odor, the dentist will refer you to your primary healthcare provider for advice.

Dentists recommend using mouth rinses and kinds of toothpaste if the bad breath results from bacterial buildup on your teeth and suggest periodontal treatment if you are affected by gum disease or suggest replacing faulty restorations in your teeth that can become a breeding ground for bacteria.

If you are concerned about your bad breath, kindly do not hesitate to visit All Smiles Dental Care to assess the situation and determine whether it emanates from a dental health issue or is related to other health problems. Dentists can rate your bad breath on a scale and offer treatment for foul odor if it results from your mouth or refer you to your medical healthcare provider if they suspect a severe health condition.

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