Hope for Halitosis: What’s Causing Your Bad Breath?

Waking up with “morning breath” after a night on the town is one thing, but when suffer from permanent bad breath as a result of halitosis, that is a completely different dilemma.

If you listen to most dental professionals, such as a 24 hour dentist in San Diego, they will often tell you that finding the root cause is often the only way to actually cure halitosis.

Reviewing your health habits

The medical term for bad breath is halitosis, and it can be caused by either poor dental hygiene habits, other health problems, or a combination of the this two contributory factors.

The unpleasant odor that is labeled as bad breath, can come and go, or it could be a virtually permanent factor, depending on the underlying cause of the problem. The main reason why you might get bad breath is down to the fact that millions of bacteria are living in your mouth, where they are often able to thrive in the warm and moist conditions being offered to them.

Waking up with a bad case of morning breath sometimes, is perfectly normal when you consider that your mouth gets drier during the night, which allows bacteria to build up and produce that unpleasant odor that affects most of us from time to time.

If you find that you getting bad breath on a regular basis, it would be a good idea to review your health habits as well as your dental hygiene practices, so that you might be able to pinpoint what is causing the halitosis that you are suffering from.

Dealing with what you eat

The fundamental point to take on board about the causes of halitosis is that what you eat can directly influence your breath.

The reason for this is that all of the food that you eat starts off by being broken down in your mouth, before moving on down to your stomach. If you eat food with strong odors like garlic and onions, even brushing and flossing will only serve to mask the odor on a temporary basis.

The odor will not completely fade until the foods have passed through your body, so strong flavors are going to leave their mark.

Good dental hygiene

There is no doubt that a good dental hygiene routine will definitely help to keep the prospect of halitosis in check a lot of the time.

Food particles are inevitably going to get caught up in your mouth, which is going to encourage bacterial growth. This is why flossing daily, combined with regular brushing and the use of mouth rinses, should help to reduce the prospect of a bacteria building up.

Health problems

Halitosis can be a warning sign that you have health problem, such as gum disease.

It is important that you get any signs of gum disease checked out as soon as possible as it can lead to more serious issues with your gums and jawbone, if it is left untreated. There are also a number of other diseases such as respiratory tract infections, diabetes and liver or kidney problems that can lead to halitosis.

Halitosis is not a pleasant problem to contend with, but there are good reasons not to ignore the issue that go beyond having bad breath.

Patricia Turner has experience as a dental hygienist though currently she’s on extended maternity leave. She’s keeping her mind active and the hours passing by writing dental based articles.