What Causes Bad Breath? How to treat it?
Bad breath is a condition that makes the person very uncomfortable during the day and in some cases can even prevent sociality. If this situation, which usually occurs due to insufficient oral hygiene, does not go away in the long term, the reasons must be investigated. Afterwards, necessary treatment should be applied.
What is Bad Breath?
It is physiologically normal to have an unpleasant odor in your mouth when you wake up in the morning. Because bacteria that accumulate in the mouth during the night cause odor. However, this smell goes away when the teeth are brushed.
The most common cause of odor in the mouth; is the person's inability to fully provide oral hygiene. However, if the oral hygiene is fully provided, but the odor does not go away, the causes of bad breath should be investigated.
What are the Causes of Bad Breath?
Bad breath can occur due to many conditions. The reasons are as follows:
- Failure to provide oral hygiene
- Unhealthy lifestyle and eating habits
- Nasal problem
- Gum diseases
- Cigarettes and tobacco products
- Sinusitis
- Tonsillitis
- Diseases of the stomach and intestinal systems
- Oral fungal infections
- Prolonged hunger
- Tooth decay
- Alcohol use
- Diabetes
- dry mouth
- Kidney problems
Bad Breath Treatment
For the treatment of bad breath, you must first consult a dentist. Because the said problem can develop depending on many situations. Therefore, in order to be treated, the cause must first be determined. This is only possible with a dental examination.
- First of all, the dentist evaluates the degree of odor of the breath given through the mouth and nose. At the same time, since the back of the tongue is the most basic source of bad breath, this area is scraped with the help of a tool and the smell here is evaluated.
- The most common cause of bad breath is tooth decay. Therefore, the dentist examines your teeth to see if there are any problems. If there is a situation caused by caries, the necessary treatment plan is applied by the dentist and bad breath is treated.
- Your dentist may refer you to a gum specialist in case of bad breath problems caused by gum diseases. In order to eliminate the odor problem caused by gingival diseases, the bacteria existing in the gingiva must be cleaned effectively. This deep cleaning can only be done by dentists. For this reason, if you think that there is any problem in your gums and that you have an odor in your mouth, you should consult a dentist as soon as possible. If you try to clean the bacteria on the gums yourself, you can damage your gums more.
- If bad breath occurs due to bacteria accumulating on the teeth, your dentist will recommend mouthwash and toothpaste that kill bacteria. By using these products regularly, you can get rid of bad breath caused by bacteria.
- If there is no bad breath caused by poor oral hygiene or problems in the mouth, your dentist may send you to a different specialist for the treatment of the odor.
- You should use antibiotics for the treatment of infections such as sinusitis and fungus. The use of antibiotics will ensure that these infections are treated and therefore the bad breath will be eliminated.
- Reflux should be treated for bad breath caused by reflux. In this direction, a suitable diet should be made and drugs that reduce the effect of stomach acid should be used.
When the treatment options of bad breath are examined, it is seen that it differs depending on the cause. For this reason, you should first go to a dentist examination. In this way, a treatment plan can be created that will give you the most appropriate and most effective result.
