How to Get Rid of Your Bad Breath?

Bad breath, alternatively called halitosis, is an embarrassing condition and might also cause anxiety in some cases. Although store shelves are overflowing with gum, mints, mouthwashes, and other remedies designed to battle lousy breath, the products are merely temporary measures because the root cause of the problem remains unaddressed.

Some foods, health conditions, and lifestyle habits are among some of the causes of lousy breath. You can improve bad breath with consistent and proper dental hygiene. However, if simple self-care techniques don’t address the problem, you must see your dentist or physician to ensure you have a remedy for bad breath treatment in Houston, TX.

What Are the Four Possible Causes of Bad Breath?

There are many causes for bad breath starting in your mouth. However, primary among them are the following:

• Foods: food particles breaking down in and around your teeth increase bacteria in the mouth for the foul odor. Certain foods like onions, garlic, and spices also result in bad breath. After digesting these foods, they enter your bloodstream and are moved to your lungs to affect your breath.
• Tobacco Use: Smoking leaves behind an unpleasant odor. Therefore smokers and people chewing tobacco are more likely to have periodontal disease, another cause of bad breath.
• Inappropriate Dental Hygiene: If you neglect brushing and flossing daily, food particles can remain in your mouth to cause foul breath. Dental plaque forming on your teeth constantly builds a colorless film of bacteria. When left unremoved dental plaque irritates your gums to eventually cause plaque-filled pockets between your teeth and gums. Your tongue also traps bacteria to produce odors. If wearing dentures and not cleaning them frequently or having ill-fitting dentures, they can harbor odor-causing bacteria and food particles.
• Xerostomia: Xerostomia, also called dry mouth, contributes to bad breath because it reduces saliva production. Saliva is essential to clean your mouth and food particles responsible for lousy breath. Dry mouth generally occurs when sleeping, resulting in morning breath, and worsens if you are accustomed to sleeping with an open mouth. Chronic dry mouth results from problems with salivary glands and specific diseases.

Besides the above, mouth infections, medications, mouth, nose, and throat conditions, and conditions like cancer, metabolic disorders, and chronic reflux of stomach acids are also responsible for bad breath.

Is There a Permanent Cure for Halitosis?

If trying to find a permanent cure for halitosis near you, trying masking techniques is an option, but it isn’t a permanent remedy. However, the first step to ridding yourself of lousy breath is to determine the root cause of the condition. Inefficient dental hygiene is the most common reason for developing halitosis. Approximately 85 percent of the causes of lousy breath result from mouth issues by not following appropriate dental hygiene practices to leave behind food particles on your teeth. In addition, the bacteria are responsible for creating foul-smelling waste after enjoying the food particles and depositing acids on your teeth.

You can also develop halitosis through low-carb diets, high-protein diets, and dehydration.

Diagnosing Bad Breath

When you visit your dentist to diagnose the condition, they will likely use sophisticated detectors to identify the chemicals responsible for the lousy breath. The professional will probably smell the breath from your mouth and nose to rate the odor on a scale. Unfortunately, the back of the tongue is often the source of the odor, making your dentist scrape it to rate the smell.

Treatment for Bad Breath

The optimal treatment for lousy breath is to help avoid cavities and lower your risk of gum disease. It would help if you also practiced consistent and efficient dental hygiene. The treatments for lousy breath can vary depending on the underlying reasons. In such cases, your dentist might refer you to your primary physician for help.

If you have developed lousy breath by wearing braces or aligners to straighten teeth, the Houston orthodontist might recommend brushing twice a day or more, flossing daily, scraping your tongue after brushing, and getting professional dental prophylaxis every six months. They might also suggest drinking more water to keep yourself hydrated and quitting habits like smoking or chewing tobacco.

There are many solutions to cure lousy breath, including home remedies to correct the underlying cause. However, if you need a customized treatment plan, Greater Houston Dental Arts can provide a remedy for bad breath, which includes professional dental cleanings and repairing any teeth or gum tissue to offer a permanent solution. Therefore if you are concerned about bad breath, kindly schedule an appointment with this practice to find a remedy for halitosis.