You would be surprised to know that 1 in every 4 people suffer from bad breath around the globe. Medically, bad breath is known as halitosis, but we will keep things simple.
In this post, you’ll get to know everything about this condition, including bad breath prevention techniques and treatments.
Everything You Need To Know About Bad Breath
Essentially, bad breath is a persistent and unpleasant odor that lingers in your mouth. It can result from bad oral hygiene, consumption of certain foods and dehydration. Any one of these can cause bacteria and germs to build up inside your mouth.
It’s not just the smell you should be worried about; bad breath can be a warning sign of underlying diseases or infections inside your mouth.
Bad Breath Causes
Before going into bad breath prevention techniques, let’s take a look at what causes this unpleasant odour.
Firstly, there’s bad oral hygiene like not brushing your teeth or not flossing. Bad oral health leads to bad breath; it’s as simple as that.
Next, highly acidic and alcoholic drinks like coffee and wine also cause bad breath. These drinks could also lead the discolouration of teeth as well.
If you have a sweet tooth and crave sugary treats, we’ve got bad news for you. Bacteria inside your teeth love to feed off sugar and produce sour smells.
Plus, various medications like diuretics, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, alpha-blockers tetracycline, antihistamines, antidepressants, decongestants, and sulfa cause bad breath as well. It’s a long list, but it’s worth knowing.
Moving on, certain low-carb and high-protein items like red meat, eggs and milk can lead to the buildup of odour in your mouth. Also, lower carbohydrate intake leads to dehydration, another cause of bad breath.
Bad Breath Prevention: Tips and tricks
Bad breath prevention is easy. All you need to do is change your diet and maintain tiptop oral health.
First of all, make sure to brush your teeth (and your tongue), floss and use mouthwash on a regular basis. Mouthwashes are ideal for preventing the buildup of bacteria.
Your diet needs to change as well. A carbohydrate enriched diet is vital to combating bad breath. You’ll also need to ditch sweet, sugary content as well.
Plus, try to avoid having a dry mouth. Hydration is crucial to prevent xerostomia (the medical term for dry mouth). Be sure to have enough water throughout the day.
Bad Breath Treatments
If you’re still struggling, then you need to seek bad breath treatment from your dentist.
The treatment recommended by the dentist can either be using a prescribed antibacterial mouthwash/toothpaste or a professional deep cleaning of your teeth. The objective of these treatments is to remove any germs or bacteria that may inhabit your mouth.
Overall, 25% of the global population suffers from bad breath. Getting rid of it is relatively simple, if you follow good oral hygiene and avoid a sugary, low-carb diet. Your dentist can also help with professional deep cleaning. Either way, rest assured that it is easy to get rid of bad breath.
