Bad breath: causes and treatment

Halitosis, better known as bad breath, is a common reason to visit the dentist in basic care. It is a frequent indication of various dental diseases, and can cause shame or cause anxiety and shyness to suffer.

More than 90% of the halitosis originates in the mouth and the bad smell it emits comes from the back of the tongue. The origin of everything is due to inadequate oral hygiene resulting in the formation of periodontal bags, inflammation of gums by plaque accumulation, causing an increase in the multiplication of anaerobic bacteria.

These bacteria usually survive and in places where oxygen does not arrive, therefore, they usually develop when we sleep, since our mouth remains closed, triggering bad breath. If you want to know more about this evil, which affects a quarter of the world's population continue reading this post.

What is bad breath?

Bad breath is a very common unpleasant condition. Although many people suffer from it, in almost all cases they do not realize it. Halitosis is perceived particularly through the smell of others.

When you have bad breath, the smell is so intense that it exceeds the acceptable social limit. This is caused by an organic alteration, which develops substances that are expelled by the breathed air.

The altered air is composed of sulphured substances, such as methylinercaptan substances, hydrogen sulfide and di-methyl sulfide. Basically these are the most involved agents in bad breath. According to studies there is an interesting classification of the types of halitosis according to their origin, which we can divide into:

• Mal breath of physiological type: these are the processes that trigger bad breath as a product of decomposition or putrefaction in the mouth cavity.
• Another type of bad breath is pathological, which originates both in the mouth (intraoral) and outside (extraoral).
• The pseudohalitosis is a condition where people have a stubborn fixation of the existence of this condition, especially with bad breath in the morning.
• Finally, the fear of halitosis is known as halithophobia, even after treatment.

Causes of Halitosis

A rather interesting point, where we look at the main causes why a person may have halitosis.

Food

Fermentation of food crumbs around and between the teeth can increase the amount of bacteria and cause a bad smell. Among the foods with more remained odor in the mouth are: garlic, onion and some spices.

After digesting them, all foods enter the bloodstream and are transported to the lungs, and then breathed. In the case of the lungs, they excrete the metabolized products from proteins and fats. Therefore, people with diets that include more meat have bad breath, compared to vegetarians.

Tobacco products

Smoking produces in patients who keep this vice their own bad smell in the mouth. Tobacco users are more exposed to inflamed gums which is another source of bad breath.

In addition, tobacco dries the mouth by preventing saliva from performing its cleaning functions, pH leveling, among other functions. As a result, lack of saliva, the multiplication of caries and other oral complications, such as halitosis, is encouraged. Even sometimes smoking is used to mask halitosis.

Poor oral hygiene

Oral hygiene plays the most important role in preventing bad breath. So, if you don't wash your teeth, mouth, and tongue every day or every time you eat food, they will form a colorless, sticky film full of bacteria called biofilm or bacterial plaque.

Next, the plaque sulfuras the gums and forming a plaque bag between your teeth called periodontitis. Likewise, those who use dental prostheses, if they are not cleaned normally or they do not fit their needs, can cause bacteria and food particles to enter that promote bad breath.

Dry mouth

Saliva helps to clean the mouth, eliminating particles that cause bad odor. There is a disease called xerostomy that favors bad breath, since it decreases the production of saliva.

This condition activates spontaneously while you sleep and gets worse if you do it with your mouth open. If the dry mouth is chronic, it causes a more serious problem in the salivary glands resulting in halitosis and other diseases.

Medicinal products

Certain medicines cause halitosis by xerostomy or dry mouth disease, especially in elderly people, such as anticholinergics. Antineoplastics also help oral candidiasis, oral ulcer bleeding, and gingival bleeding.

Phenoticides that are for mental disorders, make the tongue become hairy by serving as a reservoir of food and bacteria. Other medicines that produce halitosis are compounds of amyl nitrate, anti-anginous, antihypertensive, antipsychotic, antihistamine, anxiolytic, antidepressant.

Infections in the mouth

The bad smell of the mouth can also come from surgical wounds after oral surgery, such as a duct system, tooth extraction, caries, mouth sores, or gum disease.

Other causes

The result of chemicals entering our body are causes of bad breath. An example is the treatment of cancerous diseases.

They can also be caused by metabolic changes, especially in women when they have menstruation or are pregnant. On the other hand, chronic gastric reflux of stomach acids and all of this can be associated with bad breath.

Treatment of halitosis

Treatment for halitosis involves some characteristic measures of oral hygiene and will depend on the source. On the other hand, many people choose to buy chewing gums or mints, oral rinses, among other products created to deal with bad breath, but without eliminating it.

Most of these products are only temporary solutions because they do not eliminate the cause of the problem. When your dental problems have to do with halitosis, the right treatment gets a complete solution. Studies indicate that some options would be the following:

• Have an ideal and detailed technique of oral hygiene.
• Tooth remover plate and/or calculus (sar) with laceration and root polishing.
• Know the specific areas where food accumulates.
• Use specific antiseptics
• Within the most commonly used pharmacological treatment we have cetylpyridinium chloride and bencethonium chloride, zinc chloride, phenolic compounds, Chlorhexidine, or chlorine dioxide at 0.1%.

Do you need a treatment or make an appointment to fight bad breath?

If you have bad breath, examine your mouth hygiene habits. Try running changes in your brushing mode such as changing the movements when cleaning each tooth piece, scraping your tongue after eating, using oral antiseptic and floss, but above all ingesting enough water during the day.

If improving your habits, your bad breath persists, you should consult a dentist as soon as possible, and the best ones have B. Murri Clinic. So, from here you can request an appointment on our website where you will find the best certified specialists