Here are a few tips to avoid bad breath!

Beat Your Bad Breath

What are Common Bad Breath Causes?

If you suffer from chronic, severe bad breath, also known as halitosis, it's important to identify the cause so you can determine an effective treatment.
Halitosis has many causes, including the following:

• Tobacco use. If you smoke, quit. Your bad breath may be due to other causes, too, but tobacco use is a guarantee of bad breath. If you are ready to quit, ask your doctor or dentist for advice and support.
• What you eat, or don't eat. Certain foods, such as garlic, contribute to bad breath, but only temporarily. Once they are absorbed into the bloodstream, the smell is expelled through the breath, but the odors remain until the body processes the food, so there’s no quick fix.
• Dry mouth. If your mouth is extremely dry, there is not enough saliva to wash away excess food particles and bacteria, which can cause an unpleasant smell if they build up on the teeth.
• Infections. Bad breath that seems to have no other cause may indicate an infection elsewhere in the body. If you have chronic bad breath and your dentist rules out any oral problems, see your doctor for an evaluation. Bad breath can be a sign of a range of conditions including respiratory tract infections, chronic sinusitis or bronchitis, diabetes, or liver and kidney problems, so it's important not to ignore the problem.

The best way to improve bad breath is to follow a thorough oral care routine including twice-daily tooth brushing and daily flossing to remove the food particles and bacteria that can cause bad breath. Mouthwashes only improve bad breath for the short term, and if you have a chronic problem, your dentist may suggest an antimicrobial rinse to help keep bacteria at bay.

Smoking Causes More Than Bad Breath

Refrain From Smoking

Quitting smoking isn’t easy, but here’s another reason you should make the effort: Smoking is more than just a cause of bad breath — it significantly raises your risk of developing oral cancer, which includes cancer of the mouth, throat, salivary glands, tongue or lip.
In the early stages, oral and throat cancers can have symptoms similar to a toothache or they are painless. Many cases of oral cancer are seriously advanced by the time they are detected. That’s why it is important to examine your mouth periodically—if oral cancer is identified early, it is almost always treatable.
Bad breath is an early sign of oral cancer, whether or not you are a smoker. Other early signs of oral cancer include lumps or white, red or dark patches inside the mouth, difficulty chewing, swallowing or moving the jaw, feeling that something is stuck in the throat, numbness in the mouth, thickening of the cheeks, or voice changes.
Tobacco use is the top risk factor for oral cancer, so the best way to reduce risk is to quit smoking or using other tobacco products. But other keys to oral cancer prevention and the promotion of oral health include seeing a dentist regularly and following a complete oral care routine that includes twice-daily tooth brushing and daily flossing.

 

Tongue Scrapers Offer An Option For Halitosis

How Tongue Scrapers Work

If you suffer from halitosis, or chronic bad breath, you’re probably looking for ways to help manage the problem. If so, consider a tongue scraper. They’re relatively inexpensive and available at most pharmacies. Tongue scrapers are often touted as the way to improve bad breath, but there is very little research to show that they are any more effective than simply brushing the tongue with your toothbrush as part of your toothbrushing routine.
Trying a tongue scraper can’t hurt, and they’re easy to use. Simply hold the scraper at the back of your tongue, and bring it forward, scraping gently but firmly along the tongue as you go.
Although tongue scrapers are harmless, you can probably prevent halitosis just as well by following a consistent oral care routine of twice-daily tooth brushing and daily flossing. And keep these points in mind as part of your daily oral hygiene plan:

• Keep your toothbrush fresh. Be sure to replace your toothbrush every 3 to 4 months, even if you don’t have bad breath, but especially if you do.
• Keep an extra brush at work. Keep a spare toothbrush and toothpaste at work so you can brush your teeth after lunch.
• Drink plenty of water. Keeping your mouth moist helps minimize the amount of bacteria in your mouth that can cause bad breath.

Flossing - Bad Breath Killer

Flossing As Prevention For Bad Breath

Need another reason to floss your teeth at least once a day? Flossing daily helps improve bad breath by effectively removing the food particles and bacteria that contribute to it. That makes flossing one of the easiest ways to prevent and banish bad breath.
Bad breath, also known as halitosis, is more common than many people realize. You may joke about bad breath, whether it’s your own or someone else’s, but it’s an important oral health issue. Bad breath can be more than an embarrassing social problem—it can be a sign of disease or illness.

Saliva is Your Friend

Less saliva means that your mouth is more susceptible to plaque buildup, which can create an unpleasant smell on your breath. Pay extra attention to any of the following circumstances that can reduce the saliva in your mouth and promote bad breath:

• Drinking alcohol. Alcohol-containing beverages may promote a dry mouth and cause bad breath. So don’t forget to floss after an evening out on the town, no matter how much you’re tempted to hop into bed and forget about it.
• Early morning. Saliva stops flowing while you sleep, so you may be prone to bad breath in the morning. If so, mornings may be the best time for your daily dental flossing.
• Being hungry or thirsty. When you’re dehydrated, there’s not as much saliva in your mouth, so you’re prone to bad breath and increased bacterial buildup. Drink enough fluids and remember to floss. Also, remember that chewing food increases the saliva in your mouth, so if you’re skipping meals or dieting, you may develop bad breath.

If you’re dieting and eating less frequently, a mint floss can not only help bad breath by removing bacteria, it may help you with your diet by providing a fresh taste in your mouth that makes you less tempted to snack. People who are following extremely low carbohydrate diets also sometimes report bad breath, but these reports are anecdotal. If you’re on a low-carb diet, or any restrictive diet, you may be promoting bad breath. If you must restrict your food intake and eat infrequently, drink plenty of water to help maintain the level of saliva in your mouth to help prevent bad breath in addition to following a good oral care routine.

Other Causes

If you experience chronic bad breath that doesn’t seem to improve despite a consistent oral hygiene routine, talk to your dentist and doctor for further evaluation to identify or prevent serious health problems.
Sometimes bad breath can be a sign of a more serious issue. Some serious oral health conditions associated with bad breath include:

• Throat problems such as strep throat.
• Dental cavities or gum disease.
• Throat or oral cancer.
• Tonsils that contain trapped food particles.
• An infected root canal

In addition, bad breath can be a symptom of a variety of serious non-oral health problems including liver disease, diabetes, HIV, digestive system ailments such as reflux and even lung infections or lung disease.

The Importance of Habit

Research supports a link between lack of flossing (among other poor oral hygiene behaviors) and bad breath. In a study of more than 1,000 adults conducted in Kuwait, never using dental floss was significantly associated with reports of bad breath, as was infrequent tooth brushing, being or having been a smoker.
Your oral care routine to help prevent bad breath should include not only daily flossing, but also brushing the teeth, tongue, gums and roof of your mouth twice each day. Using a mouthwash can provide short-term relief for bad breath, but use it as an addition to (not a substitute for) brushing and flossing