Basic Bad Breath Information We All Need to Know
What is Bad Breath
Bad breath is the presence of a persistent offending smell that comes from the mouth. It likely that you will have encountered many people suffering the condition through the course of your life yet it’s not something you may have talked about with many people at great length as social politeness requires us to try to be polite as possible and ignore the problem.
It is not socially acceptable to simply say to someone with bad breath ‘Uggh your breath stinks!’ the person you are talking to would be embarrassed and hurt and others would consider you very rude for making such a statement. Instead the polite thing to do is simply ignore it. However you will likely be reluctant to speak to that person again in such close quarters and may even avoid them in future.
It therefore makes sense that if you try and avoid those with bad breath others would do the same to you. It would also seem logical then that if you fear you may have bad breath you would want to avoid any embarrassment or have people talking about you behind your back.
It also makes it difficult to tell if we do in fact suffer from bad breath. Often we can not notice the smell of our breath even when it is painfully obvious to others but if they do not tell us about it how are we to know?
You may be able to pick up subtle signs such as people moving back when you speak or offering you mints or chewing gum but the best thing to do if you fear you have bad breath is ask a close friend or relative or speak to your dentist.
How Common Is Bad Breath
Even though it can feel like we are the only person in the world enduring this problem the truth is we are not alone. Bad breath is a very common problem that is estimated to affect 35-45% of people in the world to some degree. It’s no wonder then also that over $10 billion is spent each year in the United States on oral hygiene products such as mouthwashes and toothpastes that combat chronic breath.
And if indeed we do have breath, we do not like to have to endure the smelly breath of others so we can not expect others to enjoy it if we have it and so it is imperative that we find a way to address and alleviate the problem as quickly as possible.
What Causes Bad Breath
There are many factors that can contribute to bad breath however the smell is often related to the waste produced by bacteria living in the mouth. Bacteria living in the mouth can feed on dead skin cells and the protein compounds found in saliva. If we fail to properly clean our teeth left over molecules of food are an ideal opportunity on which the bacteria can feed and multiply.
As bacteria eat the protein in the mouth they excrete waste that can contain sulpher compounds. Sulpher compounds are what give rotten eggs their foul stench. Dentists refer to these compounds as “volatile sulfer compounds” or VSC’s for short. The word volatile is simply describing the fact that these compounds easily evaporate even at room temperature causing the smell to quickly emanate from the moth and diffuse into the air around.
Therefore poor oral hygiene in which the teeth are not cleaned of excess food after meals or plaque are ideal feeding grounds for bacteria and the subsequent development of bad breath.
Three Tips on How to Get Rid of Bad Breath
In order to combat bad breath we need to fight it’s cause and that is most often excess bacteria in the mouth. What we need to do is therefore ensure that our mouths do not become an ideal habitat for breeding bacteria by cleaning out our mouths properly after eating.
1) Floss Properly
Flossing is a good way to help prevent bacteria as it helps to remove the food particles that get trapped in the small gaps between the teeth that would otherwise be an optimal food source for bacteria. It is important to floss before brushing that way you remove food particles first and then floss them away.
2) Brush Your Teeth Properly
The next step is to properly brush your teeth in the morning after breakfast and at night before going to bed. The purpose of brushing our teeth is to remove any plague build up. Plaque is a thin layer that builds up on the teeth and is something that can help the anaerobic bacteria of the mouth to grow and subsequently lead to bad breath therefore we should brush for a full two to get every tooth.
Start at with the back and do small, tooth sized circles along the gum line of both the inside and the outside of the teeth to remove any plaque and bad breath causing bacteria. The next step is to clean the chewing surface by brushing with a back and forwards motion.
3) Brush Your Tongue and Cheeks
One area of the mouth where lots of bad breath causing bacteria can grow is at the back of the tongue. It is therefore imperative that we thoroughly clean this area if we want to get rid of any embarrassing odors. This area can easily be cleaned by using a tongue scraper or simply your toothbrush and once a day cleaning the tongue from back to front after flossing and brushing. You can add some non-alcoholic mouthwash to the brush or scraper also but be sure to thoroughly clean your tooth brush afterward.
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