Our mouth is known for being a prime breeding ground for bacteria and a variety of disease-causing microbes. When the environment is just right, these bacteria and microbes can proliferate, especially during the morning where most individuals start having bad breath. This can be especially embarrassing for individuals that have to face other people constantly.
Not only can having a foul-smelling mouth put off others from talking to you, but this can often lead to anxiety and even lower self-esteem. So what are some ways of managing bad breath or halitosis? What are some key hygienic practices that will help you with your oral health? Here’s what you’ll need to know.
What Usually Leads to Bad Breath
But before we can get into what we can do to stop bad breath, we must know the underlying causes of it in the first place.
Contrary to what most people think, bad breath isn’t a “natural” part of our body’s functions. Although bacteria primarily cause it, certain situations have caused such conditions. Among these are:
- Infections caused by bacteria, viruses, and medical operations
- Failure of essential organs such as the kidney
- Problems with the digestion process
- Increased intake of sugar leading to early signs of diabetes
- Infections in the respiratory system, which can usually lead to pneumonia and bronchitis
- A malfunctioning liver
However, most individuals can pass this up as something that might be trivial and easy to address.
Good Dental Hygiene
First and foremost, the best way of managing bad breath is to prevent it in the first place. You’ll need to brush your teeth twice a day and right after eating your meals. It doesn’t hurt to take your time when it comes to cleaning out plaque and tartar around your gums. This is important in stopping the buildup of bacteria in both your front and back teeth.
Additionally, it would help if you didn’t forget to brush your tongue since most bacteria will be located on your tongue. There are a variety of toothbrushes that have “specialised” bristles for your tongue. Not only will this help remove foul odour, but this will remove harmful disease-causing pathogens.
In most cases, tooth decay can cause bad breath, especially since this can lead to the accelerated proliferation of bacteria. Dental complications can come in many forms. Teeth that are moving around at a certain age, such as the wisdom tooth, can sometimes cause tooth decay, which then leads to bad breath. If this is the case, you might want to consider getting an operation from professionals. Fortunately, some dental professionals are well-versed with wisdom tooth surgery.
Frequent Flossing
Aside from just brushing your teeth, it’s important to clean the gaps between your teeth since food particles can easily rot in these hard-to-reach areas. Flossing is a great way of removing all of these food particles and plaque that might be stuck on these gaps. If you’re bleeding from the flossing, that’s only natural if you’re a bit too aggressive. But if the bleeding is profuse, you might want to consider consulting a health professional.
Avoid Making Your Mouth Dry
Saliva plays a key role in making our mouth moist. It also plays a key role in preventing tooth decay while also staving off various oral infections. In fact, our teeth have a thin film of saliva that serves as a natural buffer zone between our teeth and bacteria.
When your mouth dries up, you won’t have saliva that can protect your teeth and much of your mouth from bacteria. Bad breath will usually develop when your mouth is dry, which is why most people will have bad breath early in the morning. To avoid this, you’ll need to keep much of your mouth moist by hydrating most of the time. It’s important to avoid acidic beverages or sugary drinks that might cause your mouth to dry up, such as coffee, soft drinks, and alcoholic beverages.
Tobacco can also cause your mouth to dry up. You’ll need to stimulate saliva on your mouth by chewing on gum (that doesn’t have sugar) or herbs that can prevent bad breath. If your mouth is constantly dry, you might want to consult with a dentist as soon as possible.
There are a variety of ways to stop halitosis in your mouth. Still, it’s important to remember that bad breath is an underlying symptom of much more severe diseases, and you might want to consider getting checked out by a medical professional if bad breath persists.
