Bad breath makes it difficult for a person to communicate with others. However, stale breathing is not only unpleasant for others. This may be a sign of some serious pathologies. Therefore, such a symptom should be paid attention to in time. Stale breathing can occasionally occur in every person after eating certain types of food or poor cleansing of teeth and gums. However, if the smell becomes constant and is noted for a long time, then, most likely, this is due to malfunctions in the body. Next, the main causes of bad breath and the treatment of this problem will be considered.
How to independently check the freshness of breath
In medicine, an unpleasant odor from the oral cavity is called halitosis. There are several home methods that can help you identify this symptom:
- You need to cover your mouth with your palms and exhale in them.
- Floss helps to detect the presence of odor. It is placed between the teeth and then sniffed. An unpleasant smell usually indicates the presence of caries.
- You can take an ordinary teaspoon, use it to remove plaque from the tongue and smell it.
- You can lick your wrist, allow the skin to dry and smell.
In addition, special tests are sold in pharmacy chains that can be used to determine halitosis.
Other signs of stale breathing
The patient can not always independently identify halitosis. Many people are accustomed to their own stale breath and do not feel it. In this case, you should pay attention to indirect signs indicating the presence of halitosis:
- If a white coating forms in the oral cavity, then this is a sign of the accumulation of bacteria or fungal infection. In this case, halitosis is always noted.
- A yellow coating on the tongue also indicates stale breathing. Most often it is associated with gastrointestinal problems.
- The appearance of an unusual taste (metallic, bitter, sour) in the mouth.
- The appearance of white plugs on the tonsils. This symptom is associated with a sore throat. Purulent plug can cause halitosis.
During the conversation, you need to pay attention to the reaction of the interlocutors. If a person has halitosis, then others try to move away from him at a distance or turn away.
What is the reason for the smell
All causes of halitosis can be divided into two groups:
- natural (physiological);
- pathological.
In the first case, the appearance of halitosis is not associated with any ailment. If the smell is caused by pathology, then treatment of the underlying disease is necessary, otherwise it will be very difficult to eliminate the unpleasant odor.
When the smell is not associated with disease
Bad breath may occur after eating certain types of food. For example, onions, hot spices, garlic and radish have a sharp pronounced aroma. Odorous molecules from food enter the bloodstream and then into the lungs. These particles are released together with exhaled air, which leads to temporary halitosis. Bad breath in this case disappears quickly. As soon as the food is completely processed and out of the body, the smell passes.
One of the common causes of halitosis is neglect of hygiene. With irregular brushing of the teeth, the smallest particles of food remain on the enamel. When they decompose, bacteria form and an odor appears.
Smoking is a common cause of halitosis in adults. Particles of nicotine and harmful resins accumulate on the tongue, teeth and gums. These substances have a specific unpleasant odor. To get rid of halitosis in this case, you must either quit smoking or clean your teeth and tongue from nicotine deposits several times a day.
Sometimes the cause of bad breath is poor cleaning of removable dentures. They often accumulate bacteria. Therefore, prostheses need serious care. They need to be cleaned regularly with a toothbrush and placed overnight in a composition with an antiseptic.
Often, halitosis suffers people who want to lose weight due to following a too strict diet and severe restrictions on food. In this case, the body has to use its own fats and proteins, and the blood glucose level drops. These biochemical processes are accompanied by the release of substances with a pungent odor. A starving person develops halitosis. At the same time, a characteristic “chemical” smell is felt in exhaled air. It is a bit like the sharp aroma of acetone.
In the above cases, halitosis is easily eliminated. If you revise your diet, abandon bad habits and regularly clean your mouth of bacteria and food debris, then the unpleasant odor disappears. Local remedies for halitosis can also help: chewing gums, sprays and capsules for fresh breath.
Possible pathologies
Consider the pathological causes of halitosis in adults. Treatment in these cases should be aimed at eliminating the cause of halitosis. It is necessary to undergo a course of therapy from the underlying disease, which led to stale breathing. Without it, getting rid of the smell will be very difficult. The use of local means for the oral cavity can only give a temporary effect.
The following pathological causes of halitosis can be distinguished:
- Excessive drying of the oral mucosa. It is formed due to reduced saliva. Many healthy people have stale breathing in the morning. This is due to the fact that the salivary glands secrete little secret at night. There is a pathological condition called xerostomia. It is characterized by constant dry mouth and weak salivary glands. One of its signs is halitosis. Saliva flushes bacteria from the oral cavity, so its deficiency leads to the appearance of a smell.
- Dental pathology. Odor from the mouth is almost always observed in diseases of the teeth and gums. With caries and periodontitis in the oral cavity, an accumulation of bacteria occurs, which leads to halitosis.
- Gastrointestinal diseases. With pathologies in the intestine, many harmful microorganisms are formed. Active fermentation processes occur in the digestive tract. As a result, putrefactive bacteria release gases that a person exhales through the mouth.
- Respiratory diseases. Pathologies such as chronic rhinitis, sinusitis, sinusitis, often cause a bad breath. Mucous discharge from the nose to the throat. This causes stale breathing. In addition, due to nasal congestion, a person breathes in and out through his mouth. As a result, the mucous membrane dries up, and the bacteria are not washed out by saliva.
- Chronic depressive states. The state of the psyche can also affect the freshness of breathing. With stress and depression, a person disrupts the release of saliva and microflora of the oral mucosa. When the patient calms down, his breathing becomes fresh again.
In addition, any neglected chronic diseases are the cause of bad breath: diabetes mellitus, liver and kidney pathologies, hormonal imbalances, etc. If the patient has no problems with teeth and gums with halitosis, then a full examination should be performed by a general practitioner. Perhaps the cause of stale breathing is chronic internal illnesses.
Causes of Halitosis in Children
In a child, bad breath occurs for the same reasons as in an adult. However, there are specific factors that influence the occurrence of halitosis in childhood:
- Enlarged tonsils and adenoids are often noted in children. Microbes actively multiply on these formations, which causes an odor.
- If parents do not regularly clean their baby’s mouth, then stuck food particles will lead to halitosis and then to tooth decay.
- Helminthic invasion causes severe intestinal dysbiosis, which leads to the multiplication of putrefactive bacteria and stale breathing.
- Children usually like sweets. Excessive amounts of such food can also affect the freshness of breathing. A sweet environment is favorable for bacterial growth.
- Foreign bodies in the nose cause inflammation and mucus, accompanied by an unpleasant odor.
- The cause of halitosis can be genetic pathologies that occur with metabolic disorders.
Diagnostics
In addition to true halitosis, there is a condition that is called pseudohalitosis in medicine. With this pathology, a person subjectively feels the stench from his own mouth. However, in fact, there is no smell. This is most often observed with neurosis and mental disorders. Therefore, if a person complains of halitosis, then an objective examination should be carried out. It will help to distinguish a real smell from an imaginary one.
To this end, the following tests are carried out:
- When talking with a patient, the doctor draws attention to the smell of exhaled air. Then halitosis is evaluated on a special scale. This method is called hedonistic. Its disadvantage is that the doctor’s assessment may be subjective.
- A more objective study is a test using a special device. It determines the content of sulfur compounds in exhaled air. The greater the number of such substances, the more pronounced halitosis.
- A microbiological study of plaque on bacteria is carried out.
If the patient has pseudohalitosis and there are no objective signs of halitosis, then the patient is recommended to consult a psychotherapist. If the examination revealed true halitosis, then you need to visit a dentist, gastroenterologist and ENT specialist. This will help identify the etiology of odor.
How to get rid of halitosis
There are many ways to treat bad breath in adults. The causes of halitosis will determine the choice of treatment method. It is necessary to eliminate the disease that caused the smell. Usually, after treatment and recovery, halitosis disappears. In this case, various medications are used depending on the type of pathology.
How to get rid of bad breath during the treatment period from the underlying disease? After all, the therapy process can be lengthy, and a person has to communicate daily with others. For this purpose, local remedies are prescribed to eliminate odor. However, they only temporarily eliminate halitosis. These include the following drugs:
- Halitox.
- Smeliks.
- OralProbiotic.
- ProFloraOralHealth.
- Septogal.
- Hydrogen peroxide (in tablets).
These drugs are available in tablet form. They contain aromatic plant components and bactericidal substances.
Chewing gum or mint flavored candies can also be used. Menthol will give your breath a pleasant smell. It is also beneficial to use an oral freshener more often.
Cleansing the mouth of bacteria and plaque
How to remove bad breath if bacteria have accumulated on the mucous membrane? It is necessary to thoroughly clean your teeth and gums. However, doing it yourself, using only a brush, is sometimes very difficult. After all, microorganisms and food particles can get stuck in inaccessible places.
Therefore, if bacteria have accumulated in the mouth, it is better to visit the dentist. The doctor will perform the following procedures:
- brushing with special floss;
- removal of tartar;
- enamel cleansing.
Professional toothbrushing will help to completely remove all harmful bacteria. Dental treatment for bad breath is supplemented by cleansing the tongue at home. Patients often forget about this during morning hygiene procedures. But it is precisely in the language that many microorganisms settle in the form of plaque, which lead to halitosis.
You can clear the language using the following procedures:
- Hold the toothpaste with the paste in the direction from the root of the tongue to the tip. Therefore, all plaque must be removed. In this case, the tongue should not be pressed hard to avoid injury. It is better to use antibacterial paste.
- You can purchase a special spoon in the pharmacy to remove plaque from the tongue and remove deposits with it.
After the procedures, the oral cavity is treated with rinse aid. This will help temporarily eliminate odor. To achieve a lasting effect, tongue cleansing is carried out daily.
If professional brushing and removal of plaque from the tongue does not lead to improvement, then, most likely, the cause of halitosis lies in internal pathologies.
Home treatment
Is it possible to cure bad breath at home? If the cause of halitosis is the presence of pathology, then the use of alternative recipes will not be enough. However, drug therapy can be supplemented with home remedies. To reduce the manifestations of halitosis, you must adhere to the following recommendations:
- Often rinse your mouth with decoctions of herbs: chamomile, sage, St. John's wort, bitter wormwood. They have bactericidal and anti-inflammatory properties. Rinsing is advisable every time after eating.
- Rinsing with vegetable oil, chewing fried seeds, dry clove powder, a leaf of mint or other fresh herbs will help to quickly refresh your breath.
- It is necessary to limit the use of onions, garlic, coffee, meat. It is important to remember that foods rich in protein, when processed in the body, can cause odors.
- Drink as much water as possible. This will help flush out the bacteria. This is especially useful for patients with reduced saliva production.
- If the patient has a dry mouth, it is useful to periodically chew parsley, cloves or mint. These plants stimulate salivation and help remove bacteria from the oral cavity.
- It is useful to use an electric toothbrush. It will help to more thoroughly remove plaque and bacteria.
Such home methods can not replace a full-fledged medical treatment. They will only help temporarily freshen your breath and remove the smell.
Conclusion
Halitosis can significantly complicate a person’s life. However, an unpleasant odor can be easily prevented. To do this, thoroughly and regularly clean your teeth, gums and tongue, stop smoking and monitor your diet. It is important to regularly undergo examinations at the dentist and in time to cure tooth decay and periodontitis.
Halitosis sometimes becomes the first sign of a chronic disease that the person is not even aware of. Therefore, with persistent stale breathing, you should immediately contact a specialist and undergo an examination.