Each of us has experienced at least once in our life a conversation with a person with an unpleasant breath or struggles with this problem ourselves. This is quite an embarrassing issue, and its causes can be attributed to insufficient attention to oral hygiene or to a disease that manifests itself in this unpleasant way. Today we will deal with the issue of lack of oral hygiene as the cause of bad breath.
Bad breath can effectively make our lives miserable by limiting the freedom to establish contacts with people - both with our loved ones, with our employer, co-workers and, most importantly, with new people who may judge us negatively because of our problem. It is very important to realize that our breathing is irritating to the environment, because people who suffer from this condition often do not realize it. If we are aware of the problem, we are already halfway to success, because if the cause is insufficient oral hygiene, we are able to deal with it ourselves.
Lack of proper oral hygiene combined with gum disease and tooth cavities caused by the presence of bacteria, viruses and fungi, as well as improper functioning of the digestive and respiratory systems, may make our problem manifest much more intensely.
The most common oral causes of bad breath include:
- Imprecise brushing of teeth, gums and tongue
- No use of dental floss and mouthwashes
- Dental diseases (caries, pulp gangrene, decaying tooth roots)
- Gum and periodontal diseases
- Oral thrush (most often appears when the immune system is weakened and after taking antibiotics)
- Mouth ulcers
- Lack of adequate saliva to cleanse the mouth
- Smoking cigarettes, drinking too much alcohol, taking certain medications
To effectively combat unpleasant breath odor, you need to combat all its causes. We can improve the quality of our oral hygiene by paying more attention to brushing our teeth, during which we will also remember to sweep away food remnants from the gum line and scrub our tongue (currently, many toothbrushes have special rubber covers for this purpose). It is also important to clean the interdental spaces with dental floss and rinse your mouth with an antibacterial mouthwash.
But that's not all. It is necessary to visit a dentist who will examine the condition of our teeth, deal with caries, remove old tooth roots, and if necessary, apply root canal treatment. The end of this process will be professional oral hygiene, which takes place in three stages:
- Scaling, i.e. removing tartar using an ultrasonic scaler. Tartar deposits are removed both above and below the gum, which significantly improves the condition of our teeth and the entire oral cavity, because bacteria and viruses like to nest in the tartar and deposits, which can cause our problem with bad breath, but also lead to infections. Tartar deposition also causes the lowering and exposure of tooth necks, which may ultimately lead to the loss of the alveolar bone, loosening and ultimately loss of teeth, i.e. periodontitis.
- Sanding This is the next stage that will remove sediment, plaque and discoloration caused by drinking coffee, tea, alcohol and smoking. Sandblasting involves directing a stream of dental sand onto the teeth using a so-called sandblaster.
- Fluoridation It involves brushing, rubbing fluoride solutions, gels and varnishes into the teeth or applying special foam to the tooth surface. Fluoridation is performed after mechanical cleaning of the teeth using an appropriate paste and drying them.
Dental treatment and hygiene treatment will be an introduction to the fight against bad breath for people suffering from bad breath. If we decide to take the first step and go to the dentist, we will not waste the work that will be done in the dental office. In the case of problems with bad breath, prevention is the basic action that we must remember. Let's pay attention not only to proper cleaning of teeth and oral cavity at home, but also to undergo hygiene treatment regularly, every 3-6 months. Then we have a chance to get rid of unpleasant breath once and for all. The cost of hygiene is not high and ranges from several hundred zlotys. This is one of the treatments most often offered by dental centers on promotion, so it is worth asking your dentist about the current price of this treatment. Additionally, to properly take care of your oral health at home, ask your hygienist for free instruction in proper oral hygiene. He will explain in an accessible way how we should proceed when brushing our teeth. The key is to remember to brush properly for about 2 minutes. We should make sweeping movements with the brush from top to bottom, starting from the gum to the tip of the tooth. The gums should also be massaged towards the tooth - the upper ones downwards and the lower ones upwards.
What else can you do?
Make sure you always have sugar-free chewing gum or mints at hand, and drink more water to constantly moisturize your mouth and remove microorganisms from it. Eating apples and oranges will allow you to produce saliva more efficiently, which will also help remove bacteria from your mouth. An action that will certainly help, but requires strong will, is to quit smoking and limit the amount of alcohol consumed.
If, despite our efforts, compliance with oral hygiene rules and regular visits to the dentist, the problem persists, it is likely that it is a symptom of more serious health problems such as stomach, throat, tonsil or lung diseases. Such suspicions can be verified by an appropriate specialist, e.g. an otolaryngologist, gastroenterologist or pulmonologist. If our dentist is aware of the problem we are struggling with, he should suggest additional tests. Of course, we can also ask him for advice on this matter and referral to a specialist who will verify our concerns.
Let us remember, however, that in most cases, proper oral hygiene combined with regular visits to the dentist's office should quickly lead to the moment when we will be able to enjoy beautiful, healthy teeth and fresh breath.