Bad Breath Treatment Essential to Prevent Embarrassment and Anxiety
Halitosis, commonly referred to as bad breath, is embarrassing and, in some cases, also causes anxiety. It comes as no surprise that store shelves are overflowing with temporary remedies like gum, mints, mouthwashes, and other products to combat bad breath. However, these products are interim measures because they don’t address the root cause of the problem. If you are affected by bad breath, instead of wasting money on temporary measures must seek bad breath treatment near me from a dental professional.
The causes of bad breath are certain foods, health conditions, and lifestyle habits. Improving bad breath is not challenging in many cases because you can incorporate consistent dental hygiene practices to succeed with your objective. However, if you don’t see any improvement with simple self-care techniques, you must visit bad breath treatment in Houston, TX, to ensure a severe condition isn’t causing the problem.
What Are the Symptoms of Bad Breath?
The underlying causes of the source of the condition result in lousy breath odors varying. Many people have bad breath but don’t realize it until it is pointed out. Conversely, some people have little or no odor but are concerned about their breath. It is challenging to determine how your breath smells, making it necessary for you to inquire with friends or family members to confirm your bad-breath questions.
When to Contact Your Dentist for an Evaluation?
If you think your breath is lousy, you must review your oral hygiene habits. First, make lifestyle changes like brushing your teeth and tongue after eating, flossing, and drinking plenty of water. If you think your bad breath persists after incorporating the lifestyle changes, visit halitosis treatment in Houston, TX. If the dentist suspects you have a severe condition causing your bad breath, they may refer you to a physician to identify the cause of the odor.
Causes of Lousy Breath
Bad breath usually starts in the mouth, and there are many reasons why it may affect you. They are:
- Food: the breakdown of food in and around your teeth increase bacteria to cause a foul odor. Eating some foods like garlic, onions, and spices also makes you vulnerable to bad breath. After digestion, these foods into your bloodstream and get your lungs to affect your breath.
- Tobacco: Smoking also leaves you with an unpleasant mouth odor. Gum disease and other causes of bad breath affect most smokers and tobacco users.
- Poor Dental Hygiene: If you neglect to brush and floss daily, you allow food particles to remain in your mouth, causing bad breath. Food particles and bacteria create a thin film of plaque on your teeth. Plaque remaining on your teeth eventually causes plaque-filled pockets between your teeth and gums to cause gum disease. Your tongue also ensnares bacteria that contribute to odors. In addition, improperly fitting dentures that are not cleaned daily harbor odor-causing bacteria and food particles.
- Xerostomia: Your saliva helps cleanse your mouth, removing food particles causing bad breath. If you have a dry mouth because of the condition xerostomia, the problem can also contribute to bad breath because it inhibits saliva production. Chronic dry mouth results from problems with your salivary glands and other diseases.
- Infections in Your Mouth: Bad breath is a common occurrence after you undergo any oral surgery like tooth removal due to tooth decay, gum disease, and mouth sores.
Diagnosing Bad Breath
When you seek bad breath treatment in Houston, the dentist at the clinic will likely smell your breath from the mouth and nose to rate the odor on a scale. However, the back of the tongue is frequently the source of lousy breath. Therefore the dentist scrapes it to rate its odor. Sophisticated instruments are also available to identify the chemicals responsible for awful breath, although many dentists haven’t invested in them.
Treatment For Bad Breath
If you want to reduce bad breath, lower your risk of disease and help avoid cavities must consistently practice excellent dental hygiene. The treatment for bad breath varies depending on the underlying causes.
If your bad breath results from oral health, your dentist works with you to help control the condition appropriately. Dental treatments for halitosis include mouth rinses and toothpaste and therapy of any dental diseases affecting you. Other measures you can incorporate to prevent bad breath are brushing your teeth after eating, flossing at least once a day, brushing your tongue, cleaning any dental appliances you wear, adjusting your diet, and scheduling regular dental checkups to control the situation.
Bad breath isn’t life-threatening but undoubtedly causes stress and anxiety. Therefore it is better treated than left by itself by visiting the Houston dentist.