You may not want to admit you’re one of them, but the truth is that most people experience bad breath from time to time. There are a myriad of reasons that it happens, some that are pretty benign (like that garlic bread you had for lunch), others are kind of serious. The bad news is that if you’re noticing it, chances are good that other people are, too. Luckily, your friendly neighborhood dentist can help diagnose the cause of your halitosis before it starts to impact your social life.
The good news is you can do some things to fight bad breath from the comfort and safety of your own home, the rest we’ll do in the office.
So, there I was, facing a hard decision. Should I order the onion soup and hope no one in the office notices or should I skip it and not have to worry? It’s always a hard decision, for some reason the worst foods for your breath are the best. Of course, this isn’t the only reason for halitosis, sometimes it points to other problems.
For example, if your child isn’t a consistent brusher, bad breath may be telling you that there are bacteria in their mouths cleaning up food that’s lodged between their teeth. Yum. It can also signal that someone is suffering from chronic sinus conditions, gastric reflux or even diabetes. Obviously, bad breath can also be caused by oral problems.
The first step to beating back bad breath is to figure out the cause. A trip to the dentist is warranted in order to check your mouth for signs of infection or cavities. What we see will then determine what we do next. I found this informative piece on the American Dental Association’s site that can shed a little bit of light on the bad breath problem.
Source: https://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/az-topics/b/bad-breath
