Bad breath or to give it another name, halitosis, is a serious problem for many people and it is one of the most embarrassing illnesses that a person can suffer. It makes conversation with or any other form of close contact very unpleasant for all concerned. This may even lead to a person becoming socially isolated because they simply don't realise how bad their breath is (e.g. no one wants to tell them) or do not know what to do about it.
To make matters worse there is a lot of misinformation presented in adverts and poorly researched internet downloads about potential causes and ineffective remedies. A typical mouthwash advert suggests that gum disease is almost certainly the cause of your bad breath and if you buy their mouthwash it is a halitosis cure. Of course they always leave out the part about the need to keep wasting money on it because it does not cure anything. Some studies also indicate that mouthwash may increase the risk of mouth cancer and disrupt the natural bacteria population in your mouth (thereby making your problems worse).
The first important point about bad breath is that there are many potential bad breath causes. All of them are indicative of some form of health problem and therefore should first be diagnosed and then resolved with an appropriate bad breath remedy. Trying to cover up the symptoms with expensive mouth wash will not solve the health problem. Something that you can try to reduce the problem of bad breath is drinking at least 2 to 3 litres of water every day to avoid dehydration and help the body cleanse itself. This will also have significant general health benefits.
Some of the possible bad breath causes include:
1. Mouth bacteria. Your mouth is full of hundreds of bacteria that break down for example proteins into amino acids (i.e. you need them for a healthy mouth!). This can produce an unpleasant gas and if you have an abnormal population of bacteria (e.g. too many of a certain type) your breath will smell bad. There are medical treatments to restore the correct populations of bacteria and if your mouth is often dry you can chew chewing gum, parsley, mint, basil, rosemary, thyme, cinnamon sticks or fennel seeds or leaves to wash away bacteria with your saliva.
2. Tongue bacteria. Unlike our so called advanced culture, traditional cultures (e.g. Chinese) have understood the importance of tongue health for more than a thousand years and therefore used scrapers to clean it. It turns out that the main cause of mouth related bad breath is bacteria activity at the back of the tongue. Spending money on a tongue cleaner rather than mouthwash is not only cheaper but it will cure this particular form of bad breath. Make sure that you clean your tongue and teeth thoroughly at least twice a day and see if it helps. Be especially vigilant about your cleaning routine if your tongue has a white film on it. This can be an indication of the presence of volatile sulphur compound that are known to contribute to bad breath.
3. Bad fillings, tooth decay, abscesses, food between the teeth and gum disease. These may also cause problems with bad breath but it is less common. In all cases the solution is simple, visit a dentist, brush your teeth (try using a paste mixture of baking soda and water) and use dental floss!
4. Nasal and tonsil infections. As above these are not very common and will probably have other symptoms that lead you to sort them out with a doctor.
5. The stomach and esophagus. A very uncommon bad breath cause because the esophagus is usually closed unless there is a problem with it or one belches. However, some people have a problem with the balance of stomach bacteria and this can cause bad breath. You can try taking daily probiotic supplements if this problem exists.
6. Other systemic diseases (e.g. diabetes, metabolic dysfunction). These are usually accompanied by other more serious symptoms and therefore bad breath is a clearly identifiable side effect.
7. A toxic body. If your body has become overloaded with toxins from for example, an unhealthy diet, mercury fillings and certain pollutants (e.g. lead) this can cause a chain reaction of related symptoms, including body odour and bad breath. With the modern unhealthy diet (e.g. too many carbohydrates, sugar, alcohol and additives) this is becoming more common. For the sake of your general health and bad breath you should consider undertaking a body detox, at least once in your life (and preferably every few years).
Another important point about bad breath is that it will be worse at certain times of the day (e.g. when you wake up) and will depend on what you eat (e.g. garlic, a low carbohydrate diet), your general state of health (e.g. obesity), what you drink (e.g. not drinking enough water and/or drinking a lot of alcohol) and whether you smoke. Clearly bad breath that is always bad (chronic) is more serious and must be investigated further to find out what is wrong in the body.
If you are not sure how bad your breath is or want to find out whether a bad breath remedy is working or ask a family member to tell you (i.e. it is difficult to self diagnose) or scrape the back of the tongue and smell the residue. Don't wait for someone else to hint that you breath is bad - make sure that you detect the problem first and sort it out!
Bad Breath CausesDr. Mark Howard is a personal performance enhancement coach and can help you to feel and look fantastic in the fastest and most effective way possible.
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