How To Avoid Bad Breath

If you are one of those unfortunate people who have to visit a dentist during the winter for your bad breath, do not think you are alone facing such a problem. It has been reported that over 80 million people experience chronic halitosis, commonly known as bad breath. While morning breath is normal, chronic bad breath requires professional dental attention.

Causes of Bad Breath

Here are some other causes of bad breath: 

• Dry Mouth: When your mouth is dry, it doesn’t produce enough saliva to wash away odour causing bacteria. This results in bad breath.
• Gum Disease: Plaque build-up on your teeth can release toxins that can irritate your gums and create pockets that trap food, which can lead to bad odours. 
• Sinus Infections: Foul-smelling mucus that builds up in your sinuses can drip from the sinuses to the back of your throat, meeting the air you exhale. Then, this bad odour transfers to your breath.
• Poor Oral Hygiene: Neglecting oral hygiene practices like daily brushing and flossing results in bad breath as it allows food particles to remain in your mouth.  
• Smoking: Smoking can dry your mouth and leave an unpleasant smell, contributing to bad breath. 
• Certain Foods and Beverages: Foods with strong odours like garlic and onions can cause bad breath while drinks like coffee and alcohol can also contribute by drying out your mouth.

Treating Bad Breath

However, there are ways in which you can mitigate bad breath during winter as well as throughout the year.

1. Brush and Floss: To remove any plaque or food debris from your teeth and gum, brush at least twice daily. Also, it is vital you brush your teeth before going to sleep. Since brushing does not always remove the food particles lodged between the teeth you must also floss your teeth to get rid of them floss them. Otherwise, these food particles cause bad breath as bacteria feed on them.
2. Scrape the Tongue: Residual food particles on the tongue cause a foul smell in your mouth. Invest in a tongue scraper, which is an inexpensive but very effective oral hygiene tool. In case you do not have one brush your tongue with your toothbrush.
3. Drink Water: Avoid dry mouth and remove toxins from your body that often cause bad breath and other odour problems by drinking at least 6 to 8-ounce glasses of water daily.
4. Take Green Tea: University of Illinois, Chicago conducted a study that showed green tea has components that help in fighting and suppressing the microorganisms in the mouth. So drink green tea and also you can also add a cinnamon stick that will help fight the odour.
5. Munch: In between meals, snack on fresh, crispy vegetables and fruits like apples and celery sticks. This will stimulate your saliva flow and help in removing the bacteria from the tongue, gums, and teeth, which causes foul breath. Also, it will take care of your empty stomach which releases acids that also causes bad breath.
6. Do Not Smoke: Tobacco dries your mouth and leaves an unpleasant smell even after brushing your teeth. So quit smoking or chewing on tobacco.
7. Care For Your Dental Devices: All your dental appliances should be cleaned and kept clean since they tend to accumulate food particles. This often becomes a breeding ground for bacteria, which can eventually affect your mouth. So when you clean your mouth, clean your appliances too. Also make sure to replace your toothbrush every 3 months or earlier if it starts looking worse for wear.
8.  Rinse Your Mouth: This will mask the odour and not cure it if you have a chronic dental problem that causes bad breath. At times it might worsen the problem, however, for emergency purposes try a quick rinse of your mouth with either over the counter mouth rinses.
9. Chew Sugar-Free Gum: This is never a permanent solution but for quick and emergency purposes this is a good solution. Chewing on sugarless candy or gum will increase your saliva flow which will wash away the bacteria and food debris that causes bad breath.

When all these remedies fail to resolve your bad breath issue visit your dentist. A dentist is the best person to identify the cause of your bad breath and help you in mitigating the problem. Do not be embarrassed to talk about it because it can often be a symptom for some other issue.