Do you have bad breath and wonder what you can do about it? Perhaps you are unaware that combining excellent dental hygiene practices with your diet is your best defense against bad breath.
If you maintain excellent dental hygiene practices by brushing twice daily, flossing your teeth at least once, and cleaning your tongue but still experience the lousy breath, the condition might be associated with your diet. Some foods can taint your breath for several hours and contribute to the foul odor emanating from your mouth.
This article mentions the culprits responsible for tainting your breath to help you realize why your breath stinks even after maintaining appropriate oral hygiene practices.
These two culprits lead the way and top the list for developing conditions like halitosis because the smelly sulfuric compounds in garlic and onions remain in your mouth for absorption into your bloodstream and expelled when you exhale.
A favorable environment is created for oral bacterial growth by coffee and alcoholic beverages. These drinks also dry your mouth to reduce saliva flow and permit the foul-smelling mouth bacteria to linger longer in your mouth.
Several other foods, including diets rich in meat, dairy products, orange juice, and soda, are sometimes spoken about as triggers for bad breath. Unfortunately, no scientific evidence is available to authenticate the claim. However, any foods or drinks can briefly cause lousy breath if allowed to linger in the mouth. Therefore you must brush your mouth and tongue to avoid developing a foul odor from your mouth.
Smelly food is not responsible for bad breath because it is a bacteria in your mouth that contributes to this condition. The microorganisms residing in the mouth enjoy themselves on food particles and dead cells to produce sulfur compounds, causing halitosis.
According to the American Dental Association, cleaning your teeth twice daily and flossing at least once to eliminate the debris resulting in lousy breath is an excellent solution. Cleaning your tongue is also a requirement that you cannot overlook. If you try masking the foul odor from your mouth using mouthwash, you might have a temporary solution to the problem. Unfortunately, mouthwash brands contain at least 20 percent alcohol that, decreases saliva production, makes your mouth dry, and worsens bad breath.
If some foods are responsible for making your breath smell stinky, others can also help your breath smell good. They are:
Odor-free water helps flush bits of food from your mouth to ensure bacteria don’t feed upon it. In addition, drinking plenty of water promotes saliva production to act as a cleansing agent and dissolve sticky substances in food than beverages.
Loosening food particles and dead cells from your teeth, gums, and tongue encourages saliva production, and chewing gum is incredibly helpful to achieving your goal. However, you must have sugar-free gum with xylitol because it is effective for fighting bad breath besides inhibiting bacteria in the mouth. You must munch sugar-free gum with xylitol for at least five minutes after meals to prevent bad breath from developing.
Vitamin C-rich foods like bell peppers and broccoli create an unfavorable environment for bacteria. In addition, when eaten raw, these vegetables act as mechanically abrasive agents to loosen food particles trapped between your teeth.
Researchers from Japan revealed that eating three ounces of sugar-free yogurt with probiotic bacteria twice daily for six weeks reduces lousy breath by helping lower odor-causing sulfide compounds. Fortified yogurt represents an excellent source of vitamin D, helping reduce bacteria in the mouth. Alternative sources of vitamin D include fortified milk, orange juice, salmon, and eggs.
Chlorophyll is present in parsley to cause the deodorizing effect in the mouth. Alternative plant-based products associated with better breath include cloves, fennel seeds, and anise. Although using herbs and spices to mitigate bad breath comes from anecdotal evidence instead of science, trying them doesn’t hurt.
Besides, the above lousy breath can also indicate medical conditions requiring help from a dentist or your physical health care provider. Blocked nasal passages might also result in a foul odor from the mouth that eventually subsides.
Periodontal disease, a severe infection of the gums causing tooth and bone damage is also responsible for lousy breath. Conditions of the lungs, kidney, liver disease and xerostomia contribute to the growth of oral microbial bacteria. You might have a dry mouth because of medications and problems with your salivary gland besides breathing through your mouth constantly.
If you have chronic bad breath despite your best efforts, you must schedule an appointment with your dentist to rule out underlying conditions.
Chandler Ranch Dental helps provide suitable solutions for lousy breath if you are affected by the situation. However, if you have chronic bad breath, kindly schedule an appointment with the practice to determine whether the problems contribute to the issue.
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