Dental Health Dental Health Basics

Fresh-Mouthed Answers to Bad Breath

How do dry mouth conditions contribute to bad breath?
For the most part, if the bacterial population is kept under control, the volatile sulfur compounds will dissolve in saliva. It's when saliva gets saturated that the smelly vapors will start to come out. You've seen a quickly moving stream in the woods. It's much cleaner than the ones that are stagnant. Well, with a copious saliva flow, you tend to clean the mouth out a lot. When the mouth is dry, there's not as much cleansing action.

Respiratory infections and allergies can contribute to dry mouth. People with colds and allergies tend to breathe through their mouth, which dries out the mouth. And if you get a postnasal drip, the mucous dripping coats the back part of the tongue. Beneath this mucous coating are these bacteria and they start flourishing when in this environment.

Do underlying medical problems cause bad breath?
“I said 90 percent of the problems occur in the mouth, which leaves 10 percent for somewhere else,” says Price. There could be infected sinuses, diabetes due to the production of ketones, gastrointestinal conditions such as bowel obstruction and certain lung conditions. “My job, as a dentist, is to figure out if the problem is coming from the mouth and treat it,” says Price. “If it's not coming from the mouth, then I refer somebody to a medical doctor.”

How do you treat bad breath?
There's ways of treating it and keeping these bacterial populations under control. If you want to cure under-arm odor or foot odor, what do you do? You take a shower, which reduces the bacterial population. So for bad breath, you brush, floss and keep your mouth as clean as possible.

But even the healthiest mouth can have the bad breath problem because the bacteria tend to accumulate in the back part of the tongue. If you scrape your tongue once in the morning and once at night, most often it will do the trick.

Anything that cleans the tongue can act as a tongue scraper. A toothbrush is good, but the problem is it has a certain amount of height, where the top of the brush is and the bristles end. For some people, it'll bang into the roof of the mouth. Fortunately, you should be able to find a tongue scraper on the shelf of your local drugstore.

Remember to keep the mouth moist. Some people also use a saline nasal spray if they have postnasal drip. Also make sure that you're drinking water and have a piece of fruit, which adds fiber. Fiber helps stimulate saliva flow and adds some abrasiveness to the food to help clean off plaque.

Does gum or candy help?
The answer to that is yes and no. You can stimulate saliva flow by chewing gum. But if you're using it as a crutch, what you're doing is replacing one odor with another. If the gum or candy is sugar-laden, you might have problems with cavities. If there are sugar substitutes in the candy or gum, you might wind up with digestive problems because a lot of people have a gastric response to the substitute sugars.

Do mouthwashes help?
For the most part, mouthwashes replace one smell with another. You've got to treat the problem. But there's no question that it may help you through the tight spots.

What are common mistakes people make when they're brushing and flossing?
One of the more valuable things you can have on your sink is a timer and brush and floss for three minutes. “I think one of the other misconceptions people have is that the toothbrush is going to do it all,” says Price. You need special attachments to vacuum your house, to get in the nooks and crannies. You need special attachments, such as dental floss, to get to all parts of the mouth.

Another misconception people have is that all toothbrushes are the same. You want to choose a toothbrush that fits comfortably in your hand and in your mouth. You got a little mouth, use a little-headed toothbrush. You don't want a hard-bristled brush; all you need is something soft enough to brush the plaque away.

You do want to start with a toothpaste, a toothbrush and floss that carry the seal of the American Dental Association on the package. That way, you know the product was designed to treat you in the best manner without causing harm.

<< Previous Page 2 of 2