Halitosis (Bad Breath)

• What you eat effects the air that you exhale.
• Most people don't need a special monitoring device to detect their bad breath. Sulfur levels, just one cause of halitosis. Onions, garlic, and other foods produce mouth odor from sulfur.
• Brushing, flossing, and rinsing should eliminate most bad breath problems. If not, you may have a more serious reason for a mouth odor such as… periodontal or gum disease, a dry mouth, tooth decay or a medical illness, like diabetes.
• Some bad breath can come from areas besides the mouth. It could be the lungs, the throat area or maybe through the sinuses.   Smoking also causes bad breath. So does dipping or chewing spit tobacco.

 

• Brushing with an electric toothbrush may improve your breath.  Brush your tongue while you are at it.  There are fissures in your tongue that can collect bacteria and fungus and get fungal infections. Those can cause bad breath. So if you think you may have bad breath, also brush your tongue.
• Get a professional cleaning.  A dental hygienist can remove bacteria under the gum line that can be causing problems.
• Rinse with a mouth wash that kills bacteria such as Listerine.  A new mouth rinse by Crest Pro Health kills germs and does not contain alcohol which can cause dry mouth.
• Bad breath that doesn't go away with with brushing, flossing, and rinsing could have a more serious cause. So make an appointment with your dentist for a thorough evaluation.