Halitosis Bad Breath and what to do about it

When Halitosis breath attacks your mouth!

When I started to write about halitosis or bad breath, my wife was actually a little embarrassed that it would be included on this site. My interest in this however is that bad smelling breath can be a sign or indicator that something’s wrong with you, or just the onion and garlic sandwich you had for lunch.

Bad breath is caused by bacteria working overtime somewhere in your body. It could be on your tongue, between your pearly whites or even deep in your throat or stomach. Some of the foods we eat can cause bad breath or halitosis. I can't tell you however which foods to remove from your diet as the list would be different for each or us. Just remember that if it causes you gas from the back end, it probably can affect the smell coming out the font end or in other words your mouth.

Bad breath is related to that other common human malady, flatulence. Yep, that’s right! Foods that give you common intestinal gas also known by it’s more common and favored juvenile humor source know as the fart, can also give you bad breath. Think through this a little and it makes perfect sense. Foods that cannot be easily digested by your system often take more time to digest giving the microorganisms and bacteria in your body more time to do their work. More time in the body equals more time to develop gaseous fumes that need to be expelled somewhere. Flatulence by the way is actually considered a healthy sign that your body is working well.

But back to bad breath...

Here’s a short list of how to minimize your chances of getting bad breath.

1. Most cases of bad breath come from the white coating on your tongue. Use a clean and wet washcloth to wipe your tongue and remove the top layers of coating. You can also buy a flexible plastic tongue cleaner and clean your tongue. The farther back you can get, the better the cleaning. Be careful though because the farther back you reach the more likely to hit the gag reflex. This as we all know is the point that causes us to gag!

2. Floss your teeth daily. Do this consistently and you'll enjoy a cleaner and healthier mouth. It not only removes plaque [plack] but also clears away small bits of decomposing food between your teeth.

3. Visit the dentist regularly. Your dental professional will do a thorough cleaning and check for more serious problems like gingivitis or gum disease.

4. Use a breath mint after eating. A good sugarless gum can be used to clean your teeth after a meal when using a toothbrush is not possible. Add the sugar though and you give the bacteria something use and can actually make your breadth worse!

5. Drink lots of water or other clear liquids. Although tannin drinks such as coffee, tea and colas can actually hurt your teeth, water is great for you and your teeth. Milk, believe it or not can be bad as it turns to sugars that attack your teeth.

6. Eat healthy. Many green vegetables contain natural chlorophyll that work to keep your breath smelling fresh. Once again though remember that gas in either direction can mean halitosis.

7. Gargle with a good high quality mouthwash. This is a temporary solution to bad breath especially if the odor is caused by more serious problems like dental disease.

8. Rinse your mouth after every meal even if brushing is not possible.

so that's it, fun huh? We talked about bad breadth, farting and the gag reflex. It's just common sense though when you consider our bodies take organic matter and turn it into energy and waste.
By taking good care of yourself and watching your diet, the chances of long term halitosis is minimized. Of course, I can't promise sweet smelling breadth after a meal of strong onions and garlic with red sauce

Oh, another common cause of bad breath is dieting! Those high protein diets can cause some very interesting bad breath odors. For more information has dieting given you bad breath to find out about the what a diet has to do with bad breath - halitosis.,