Fighting Bad Breath

I still remember the day I graduated from dental school and got a job in the government sector. During that time there were not enough dentists to serve at the rural areas. There are times where we would have to drive at least 1hr to get to work and an additional 1 hr to get back from work. That means around 2hrs of driving every day to get to work, and if there is huge traffic on the way it would take 1hr and a half to reach my destination. You see, while I was driving, every single time I would have to pass through a landfill. For those who don’t know what a landfill is, it is basically where people throw all their garbage. And it really stinks. The smell is horrible. Every single time when I would have to pass through that I would smell those horrible smells. And yes it was not pleasant, not at all pleasant.

Every day when I was driving to work, I didn’t want to pass through that area, but to get to that destination, there wasn’t any other choice. I just wanted to speed through that area as quick as possible, but there are times where there would be jam and I would be stuck there smelling it. It disturbs me.

You see Smell and Odor plays a vital role in our lives. Bad smell can affect us emotionally and physically, in another sense, it can affect our social interaction, work, or love ones. Bad breath is very public as it occurs in social context, which can be sometimes offensive to partners, friends, acquaintances, or co-workers. Imagine talking to your friends or even your colleagues who is suffering from bad breath.  It is not pleasant. Think back of the time when you ever experienced talking to a co-worker or an acquaintance with bad breath. I could imagine it. Sometimes we have bad breath and we don’t even know it, and sometimes knowing that we have bad breath we tend not to talk so much, knowing people will find out. Like it or not, smell and odors affects us physically, psychologically, and socially.

So what cause bad breath. Well, believe it when I say about 80% of bad breath is caused by something in the mouth. Few examples are listed below here:

CAUSE OF BAD BREATH
Dental Decay,
Gum Diseases,
Infections in the mouth,
Food stuck between teeth,
Dry Mouth,
Respiratory tract infections,
Throat or tonsil infection,
Excessive bacterial especially the tongue
Bad oral hygiene,
Smoking, chewing tobacco,
Old dentures,
Food we eat.

All the food we eat breaks down in our mouth and they are absorbed into the bloodstream. These eventually are being transfers to our lungs, giving off in our breath. Foods such as garlic and onions gives off strong odors which will not go away until food have passed through the body. Thus, low carbohydrate diets may cause bad breath. Because low carbohydrate diet cause body burn fat as energy, during this process it releases lots of ketones, which gives off like fruity acetone-like odor when we exhale.

Have some of us ever wonder, sometimes when we wake up we tend to have bad breath. If you are suffering from this, do not worry. Because while we are sleeping bacteria in the mouth ought to build up over time. This is perfectly normal as long as you wake up and brush your teeth. We call this “Morning Breath”, and do not worry, after brushing and rinsing you will have your fresh breath back.
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So how do we fight against bad breath? Since 80% of bad breath is coming from something in the mouth, the key to reduce bad breath is to practice Good Oral Hygiene care. Tackling bad breath is different from a person to another. However, if you want to fight bad breath the first step is to make sure bad breath is not coming from your mouth.