Why Do You Have Bad Breath?
There are many causes of bad breath. One of the most common causes is due to the food and beverages you consume.
The food you eat gets absorbed into the bloodstream and the blood move to your lungs, and subsequently into the air you exhale.
Some of these foods include onions, garlic and certain spices. Smoking and tobacco-related usage are another common cause.
Poor oral hygiene and dental problems are a major and common cause of bad breath.
Not only do you need to clean your teeth, your gums and tongue must also be thoroughly clean during brushing.
Bad breath could result from bacteria acting on food remnants in your mouth that are trapped between the teeth, inside the cavities of teeth (tooth decay or caries) or overcrowded teeth and impacted (crooked) wisdom teeth or inadequately cleaned dentures or bridges.
A dry mouth is also a fairly common cause for bad breath. Due to a lack of saliva, the mouth is inadequately cleansed by this natural mechanism.
Chronic mouth breathers tend to have bad breath for this reason.
Dry mouth also increases the risk of tooth decay and gum diseases as the natural defence mechanisms are found in our saliva cannot serve to protect the teeth and gum.
This in turn, lead food impaction as decaying food particles got trapped inside the holes (cavities) of the rotting teeth and the gaps of the gums.
The germs that cause gum disease also releases bad smell during the infection.
Food trap is common around the impacted (crooked) wisdom teeth that cannot be easily cleaned.
Prolonged food trap between teeth and gum not only give you bad breath but also cause gum diseases and tooth decay around the wisdom tooth or worse on the tooth in front of it.
Many medications for chronic illnesses can also cause dry mouths. Please check with your medical doctors to see if there are alternative medicines that does not lead to dry mouths.
Lastly, not all bad breath has a dental or oral origins.
Other non-dental conditions of medical origins like tonsillitis, sinusitis, frequently chronic nose blockage leading mouth breathing, chronic coughs with lung infection and gastric refluxes may also be a source of bad breath too.
The role of our dentist is to rule out the most common oral and dental causes of bad breath.
Other unknown causes of bad breath may need the help of other medical specialty for diagnosis.
Why Should You Get Rid of Your Bad Breath?
If you do not get rid of your bad breath, it can affect your life in many ways.
Bad breath can put a severe strain on all types of relationships, be it social, personal or intimate.
It will affect your job if you require to meet and interact with people on a daily basis. People will just quietly and politely avoid close interaction with you at all cost.
And bad breath can become an obstacle when beginning a new relationship or keeping one going.
Bad breath can affect your personal image and lower your self-esteem. This smelly issue is so personal and sensitive that people around you will not tell you the truth to avoid hurting your feeling.
It is advisable to see our dentist to investigate the cause for your bad breath, and also receive timely treatment such as scaling, gum treatment, fillings or extractions if necessary.
Don’t let this smelly oral health issue ruin your relationship, job and life.
Find out from our dentist what might be the cause of the bad breath and together we can tackle this sensitive problem discreetly, so seek treatment early and start living your life with new confidence.
