First, Know What Causes Bad Breath!

Bad breath, aka Halitosis is caused by odor producing bacteria in your mouth that requires dental care to maintain it. This specific bacterium ignites a sulfur-like smell that, let’s face it, doesn’t taste or smell good for anyone! 

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Improve Your Dental Hygiene

Bad breath stems from a variety of oral/dental situations that only your dentist can properly analyze such as: 

Daily Dental Routines: Do you find yourself cutting corners with your everyday dental routines?

To optimize your chances of defeating that stinky bacterium, make sure you floss at least once a day, brush your teeth two times daily, and rinse with mouthwash to flush away any reminisce of food and bacteria! When food particles are left behind, the colorless film that forms on your teeth eventually hardens, turning into plaque. After months of buildup, this plaque eventually erodes your gums and teeth, leading to the #1 cause of bad breath Halitosis which is usually a package deal with the #1 cause of tooth loss, Periodontal Disease.

Your Diet: What goes in must come out, and what goes in, sometimes gets stuck in your teeth! 

The bacteria that cause Halitosis feeds off any leftover food particles in your mouth and it absolutely loves foods high in dairy, proteins, sugar, and citric acid.  

The Solution: A balanced diet, lots of water for hydration, mixed with the right dental routines can drastically decrease your chances for bad breath caused by your diet. 

Other Causes of Bad Breath: Have You Ever  Heard of the Term “Garlic Breath”? 

Allyl Methyl Sulfide is the chemical in garlic that, when ingested, slowly breaks down in your body causing bad breath for hours to come, until it has fully processed and is out of your system. So next time you eat your Everything Bagel for breakfast or an Italian Pasta dish at dinner, keep in mind that if you brush and floss your teeth and rinse with mouthwash after you eat, your “bad breath” will not be permanent.

Dry Mouth: Your mouth produces saliva to fight the bacteria causing bad breath. When we go to sleep, our salivary glands tend to produce less saliva, hence the term “morning breath”. A great way to start each day is by drinking some water to give your salivary glands a refreshing morning wakeup call before brushing your teeth! 

Xerostomia is a condition in which your salivary glands are not able to produce enough saliva to keep your mouth wet. This can be a main cause of bad breath! If this is something you are concerned about, please ask your dentist ASAP.    

Smoking: When you inhale any form of tobacco smoke from cigarettes, cigars, or vapes, you are instantly allowing for any reminisce of that smoke to coat your throat and mouth. Oftentimes, smokers are at a higher risk for Periodontal disease (as mentioned above) which also causes intense bad breath that doesn’t go away unless treated properly.  

Untreated Mouth Infections: Any type of untreated infection in your mouth can instantly cause bad breath. It’s common for some people to let that slight pain in their mouth go untreated in hopes that it will heal itself. In most cases, that doesn’t  happen and can lead to more serious dental problems such as tooth loss, abscesses, and rotting teeth. The best way to handle this situation is to go visit your dentist for an educated evaluation of what is going on inside your mouth. 

Design That Smile is always accepting new patient cases! Our office is located at 2800 E County Line Road, and we are open Mondays 9AM-5PM, Tuesdays 10am-7pm, & Thursdays 8am-5pm. 

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