Halitosis 0r Bad Breath

Halitosis Or Bad Breath

What is Halitosis? or Bad Breath? 

Halitosis, also known as bad breath, is a condition in which a person emanates an unpleasant odor from their mouth. However, the everyday condition of “morning breath”, which is mostly a non-hostile feeling is not halitosis. Neither is the five minutes of bad breath you’ll acknowledge after eating the special spice-heavy gala meal. True halitosis is symptomatic only when it is a persistent smell that continues to exist even after thorough brushing, flossing and rinsing. It can be disheartening and humiliating for a person, so much that many people are hesitant to even mention it to their dentist. But it’s also fairly common, and thus, quite treatable.

Here is our blog were we have spoken in detail about how one our patient reported to us with a complaint of halitosis affecting his career, and how we resolved the issue.

https://www.malligaidental.com/blogs/post/How-Bad-Breath-could-affect-your-job-opporutunity/

Causes of oral halitosis:

Oral causes: 

80 percent of the cases are due to oral problems such as

•   Dental decay
  
•   Gum problems
  
•  Fractured fillings
  
•  Non clean prosthetics such as dentures or implants.

Dietary causes:

•  Bad breath can be due to improper digestion and acid reflux conditions
•  High-protein/low-carbohydrate diets, acidic foods
•  Onions and garlic will definitely render your breath bad.
  
•  Excessive coffee and alcohol consumption.
  
• Tobacco users are at an even higher risk of developing halitosis.
  

 Other causes of halitosis:

Though sporadic, lung diseases and infections of the tonsils too can lead to a person emitting malodor. A sinus infection can also attribute to bad breath due to the proximity of the sinus near the oral cavity and buildup of mucus.

A more common medical source is likely to be diabetes, because of unstable blood-sugar levels. Blood disorders, lung and kidney diseases too have been linked to oral halitosis.

Management of Oral Halitosis:

Halitosis home remedy

As most cases of bad breath arise originate from inside your mouth, your first step should be to re-evaluate your basic brushing and rinsing methods. While cleaning the teeth is important, it is of even greater importance that provide extra focus to the tongue—as the hub of microorganisms causing bad breath reside there. It is important to scrape the tongue using a tongue cleaner, floss and rinse. It is necessary to understand that brushing unaided by other cleaning methods removes only 25% of the harmful microbes from your mouth. Additional rinsing habit is required to keep your mouth clean.

If you don’t notice an improvement in your condition, the next step would be to visit your dentist

Do not be afraid or embarrassed to share your secret with a licensed professional. There is no need to shy away or be embarrassed about your issues with bad breath as it is our duty as licensed doctors to treat your condition and provide you with a confident and healthy smile.