Bad Breath Causes and Treatment: Ways to Get Fresher Breath

Bad breath (also known as halitosis) can be a problem suffered by millions of people around the globe. It can be embarrassing, make you lose confidence and cause social anxiety. Many people believe bad breath is caused solely by poor oral hygiene, but medical professionals and dentists know bad breath can often be a symptom of underlying health issues. It can be caused by your mouth, stomach, nose or even your bloodstream.

Learning the causes of bad breath will help you treat it correctly and help keep your teeth, gums and body healthy. Below we will look at the main causes of bad breath and give you easy medical solutions to treat it.

What Causes Bad Breath?

Bad breath, otherwise known as halitosis, is caused by sulfur volatile compounds in your breath. These are created when bacteria breaks down food particles, dead cells, and proteins in your mouth. This causes smelly gases such as hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan.

How Does Excess Bacteria Cause Bad Breath?

– Your mouth naturally contains millions of bacteria. If there is an increase in bacteria, then smelly gasses will begin to increase.

How Does Low Saliva Cause Bad Breath?

– Saliva is a natural way to clean your mouth. If your saliva levels fall then bacteria will reproduce quickly causing smelly breath.

How Does Protein Breakdown Cause Bad Breath?

– Bacteria loves to feed off leftover proteins from milk, meat and fish. This causes sulfur gasses to be released faster.

How Does Poor Oral Hygiene Cause Bad Breath?

How Does Plaque Cause Bad Breath?

– Food particles and bacteria build up on your teeth creating a sticky substance known as plaque. If you do not clean this everyday then it will cause a strong odor.

How Does Food Between Teeth Cause Bad Breath?

– Standard toothbrushes cannot get into the tight gaps between your teeth. This causes food to become trapped in between your teeth. As it rots it causes bacteria to grow causing bad breath.

How Do Dirty Dentures and Appliances Cause Bad Breath?

– Removable dentures, clear aligners and retainers can cause bacteria to build up. If you do not clean them then they will cause bad breath.

How Do Bacteria on Your Tongue Cause Bad Breath?

Why Does Your Tongue’s Texture Cause Bad Breath?

– Your tongue has lots of little bumps on it known as papillae. This causes deep grooves on your tongue trapping small food particles, dead cells and bacteria.

What Does a Thick White Coating on Your Tongue Mean?

– A thick white or yellow coating on your tongue means there is a large amount of bacterial build up. This causes sulfur gasses to be constantly released.

How Do Low Oxygen Levels Cause Bad Breath?

– The deep grooves at the back of your tongue have low oxygen levels. This causes anaerobic bacteria to grow here causing the worst bad breath.

How Does Gum Disease Cause Bad Breath?

– Gum disease is a serious infection caused by bacteria. A constant bad breath is one of the main symptoms of periodontitis.

How Do Deep Pockets Cause Bad Breath?

– Severe gum disease can cause deep pockets to form between your gums and tooth roots. This causes bacteria, pus and rotting tissue to become trapped.

How Do Inflamed Gums Cause Bad Breath?

– Inflamed gums will bleed easily when brushing. The blood proteins will feed the bacteria causing bad breath with a strong smell.

How Does Bone Damage Cause Bad Breath?

– As periodontitis causes damage to your jaw bone, chronic deep infections will occur. This will cause a constant bad smell.

How Does Low Saliva Cause Bad Breath?

Saliva helps to wash away loose food particles, neutralize acidic substances and keep your mouth hydrated. Without enough saliva you will suffer from bad breath.

Why Does Morning Breath Occur?

– When you sleep your mouth will naturally produce less saliva causing classic bad breath.

Which Medications Can Cause Bad Breath?

– Many common medications such as blood pressure medication, anti histamines and anti depressants can cause a reduction in natural saliva.

How Does Dehydration Cause Bad Breath?

– If you sleep with your mouth open or do not drink enough water your mouth will become dehydrated causing bacteria to grow.

Which Foods and Drinks Cause Bad Breath?

The foods you eat will affect your breath. Some foods create strong smells.

How Do Garlic and Onions Cause Bad Breath?

– Both garlic and onions contain strong sulfur compounds. As they are digested in your stomach sulfur chemicals enter your blood stream and are passed to your lungs causing bad breath.

How Do Coffee and Alcohol Cause Bad Breath?

– Both coffee and alcohol cause a dry mouth. Coffee also contains complex oils encouraging bacteria to grow.

How Does a High Protein and Low Carbs Diet Cause Bad Breath?

– If you are on a low carbs diet your body will start burning fat for energy. This creates chemicals known as ketones causing a unique sweet/chemical smell.

How Do Smoking Tobacco Products Cause Bad Breath?

Smoking cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco or vapes can cause damage to your mouth and cause constant bad breath.

How Does Chemical Residue Cause Bad Breath?

– Tobacco smoke can cause chemical residue to build up in your mouth, throat and lungs causing a unique stale smell.

How Does a Weakened Immune System Affect Your Breath?

– Tobacco can weaken your immune system increasing your risk of severe bacterial infections in your gums.

How Does Dry Mouth Cause Bad Breath?

– Toxins in tobacco smoke can cause your salivary glands to become dry.

What Medical Conditions Can Cause Bad Breath?

Sometimes bad breath can be caused by issues within your body. This can be due to issues with your respiratory system, digestive system or organs.

How Does a Sinus Infection Cause Bad Breath?

– Sinusitis, allergies and colds can cause excessive mucus to run down the back of your throat. Bacteria feeds off the protein rich mucus causing a bad smell.

How Does Acid Reflux (GERD) Cause Bad Breath?

– Gastroesophageal reflux disease causes stomach acids and partially digested food to enter your esophagus causing a sour smell.

How Does Diabetes Cause Bad Breath?

– Uncontrolled diabetes causes high sugar levels in the blood. This leads to acidosis causing a unique sweet/chemical smell.

How Do Kidney and Liver Diseases Cause Bad Breath?

– Severe kidney failure can cause your breath to smell like ammonia or urine. Severe liver failure can cause a strong musty smell.

How Can You Prevent Bad Breath With Daily Oral Hygiene?

To prevent bad breath from forming you need to clean your teeth thoroughly.

How Should You Brush Twice Daily?

– Brush your teeth for 2 minutes everyday. Divide your mouth into 4 sections and brush for 30 seconds in each section.

Why Should You Brush at 45 Degrees?

– Angle your toothbrush 45 degrees towards your gums. Using gentle circular motions clean away plaque.

Which Fluoride Toothpaste Should You Use?

– Use fluoride toothpaste with antibacterial properties to protect your enamel and reduce bacteria.

How Can Cleaning Between Teeth Prevent Bad Breath?

Cleaning between your teeth is an essential step to preventing bad breath. Only 60% of your teeth will be cleaned with a toothbrush.

How Should You Floss Everyday?

– Gently floss between each of your teeth. Curve the floss around each tooth into a C shape and wipe away trapped food.

When Should You Use Inter-dental Brushes?

– If you have large gaps between your teeth, dental bridges or orthodontic braces use small inter-dental brushes.

How Can a Water Flosser Help?

– Use a water flosser to blast food particles and bacteria from your deep gum pockets.

How Can Cleaning Your Tongue Prevent Bad Breath?

Cleaning bacteria off your tongue will instantly reduce bad breath.

How Should You Use a Tongue Scraper?

– Place a metal or plastic tongue scraper at the back of your tongue. Gently pull forward 4-5 times each morning.

Why Should You Rinse Your Tongue Scraper?

– After each stroke rinse the scraper under warm water to remove the white build up.

Why Should You Be Gentle When Scraping Your Tongue?

– Do not scrape too hard to avoid damaging the sensitive taste buds on your tongue.

How Can Antibacterial Mouthwash Help Treat Bad Breath?

Using the correct therapeutic mouthwash will kill remaining bacteria.

Which Antibacterial Ingredients Should You Look For?

– Choose a therapeutic mouthwash that contains chlorhexidine, cetylpyridinium chloride or chlorine dioxide. These will destroy the bacterial cell walls.

Why Should You Avoid Alcohol-Based Mouthwash?

– Avoid using mouthwashes with high levels of alcohol as this will dry your mouth.

How Should You Swish Mouthwash?

– After brushing and flossing swish the mouthwash around for 30-60 seconds.

What Easy Lifestyle Changes Can Help Prevent Bad Breath?

Making small changes to what you eat and drink and your oral hygiene will help prevent bad breath.

How Does Drinking Lots of Water Help?

– Drink fresh water throughout the day to keep your mouth hydrated, wash away food particles and encourage saliva.

How Does Sugar Free Gum Help?

– Chew sugar free gum containing xylitol after meals. This will stop bacteria growing and encourage natural saliva.

Which Crunchy Fruits and Vegetables Should You Eat?

– Snack on raw fruits such as apples, celery and carrots. This will naturally scrape plaque off your teeth.

How Can Giving Up Tobacco Improve Your Breath?

– Seek medical help to give up smoking, vaping or chewing tobacco to encourage fresh breath and protect your gums.

Which Professional Dental Treatments Can Treat Bad Breath?

If your bad breath cannot be cured by looking after your mouth at home then you will need to seek professional treatment to cure the underlying dental issues.

How Can a Professional Clean Help?

– Visit your dentist every 6 months for a deep scale. Dental hygienists will use ultrasonic tools to remove hardened tartar from your teeth that cannot be removed by brushing.

What Is Periodontal Scaling?

– If you suffer from periodontitis your dentist will carry out scaling and root planing to clean deep pockets of bacteria under your gums.

How Can Fixing Damaged Fillings Help?

– If you have cracked fillings, leaking crowns or ill-fitting dentures your dentist will fix these to remove any hidden pockets of bacteria.

When Should You See a Doctor for Bad Breath?

If you are suffering from constant bad breath despite perfect oral hygiene then see a doctor.

When Should You See an ENT Specialist?

– If you are suffering from post nasal drip, sinus pressure or swollen tonsils then see an ENT specialist.

When Should You See a Gastroenterologist?

– If you suffer from heartburn, indigestion, sour throat or stomach pain then see a gastroenterologist.

Which Unusual Body Symptoms Need Medical Attention?

– If you are suffering from unusual symptoms such as unexplained weight loss, extreme thirst, constant tiredness or yellow skin then visit your GP as soon as possible.

What Are the Key Takeaways About Bad Breath?

• Brush your teeth for 2 minutes twice daily using fluoride toothpaste.

• Clean between your teeth daily using dental floss, inter-dental brushes or water flosser.

• Scrape your tongue from the back to the front using a tongue scraper everyday.

• Drink plenty of water throughout the day.

• Chew sugar free gum with xylitol after meals.

• Rinse with an alcohol free antibacterial mouthwash.

• Give up smoking, vaping and tobacco products.

• Visit your dentist for professional check ups and deep cleans every 6 months.

• If your bad breath cannot be cured by daily oral hygiene then see a doctor.

What Are the Frequently Asked Questions About Bad Breath?

Can Stress Cause Bad Breath?

Yes! Stress can cause bad breath. When you are stressed or anxious your body goes into fight or flight mode. This causes your saliva levels to drop suddenly. This leaves your mouth dry and causes bacteria to grow rapidly. To help manage your stress try exercising, deep breathing and getting enough rest to keep your saliva levels healthy.

Does Missing Meals Cause Bad Breath?

Yes! Missing meals can cause your breath to smell. If you are not eating solid food for long periods of time your salivary glands will produce less saliva. Your body will also begin to break down your body fat to use as energy causing smelly chemical compounds known as ketones.

Why Does My Mouth Still Smell After Brushing?

If your breath still smells after brushing then you probably have left bacteria on your tongue or between your teeth. Standard brushing only cleans the smooth surfaces of your teeth. If there is food stuck between your teeth, thick bacterial build up on your tongue, untreated cavities, severe gum disease or dry mouth then your breath will still smell.

Are Home Remedies Such as Parsley Effective?

Chewing fresh parsley, mint leaves or seeds such as fennel will provide temporary relief. Parsley contains chlorophyll which will mask the bad smells temporarily. Chewing seeds will encourage saliva. However these will only mask the smells and will not kill the deep bacteria or treat the underlying gum disease and medical issues.

Bad breath is a common issue that can be treated. Most cases are caused by poor oral hygiene and bacteria on your tongue. However constant bad breath can be a sign of gum disease, dry mouth or medical issues such as acid reflux and sinus infections. By creating a thorough daily routine including brushing twice daily, flossing, tongue scraping, drinking water and visiting your dentist you can eliminate bad breath, keep your teeth safe and feel confident with your smile.