Bad breath, also known as halitosis, can put you in the condition of embarrassment in front of other people. It may even cause anxiety, especially when you are in a public gathering. It’s no wonder that store shelves are full of mints and mouthwashes that are designed to fight bad breath. The same is true for bad oral hygiene. Several conditions are termed bad oral hygiene, such as yellowish teeth, cavities, gum infection, and foul smell in breath. Foul-smelling breath and bad hygiene can distort your personality in the eyes of other people and produce inconvenience for you to socialize in your community.
What are the causes of bad breath?
Several factors can act as causes of bad-smelling breath and poor oral hygiene, such as:
Accumulation of food particles around your teeth and on the tongue
When you eat food, its particles start gathering around your teeth and on the tongue surface. After breakdown caused by bacteria, these particles cause a foul odor, making breath smell bad and jeopardizing oral hygiene. Certain foods are more likely to cause odor smell in breath than others, such as onions, garlic, and spices. These foods can also enter your bloodstream after digestion to affect your lungs.
Smoking
Smoking has its own unpleasant and foul odor that can make your breath smell bad. Smokers are more likely to develop gum diseases, another major source of bad breath.
Poor Cleanliness Practices
If you don’t brush and floss daily, the food particles that have remained in your mouth from the last meal can cause bad breath. Brushing your teeth regularly is very important because if you don’t do that, plaque (a colorless, sticky film of bacteria) starts developing on your teeth. It can further cause cavities and other dental diseases.
Dry Mouth
Saliva is responsible for keeping your mouth clean of food particles that can cause bad odors. Xerostomia also called dry mouth, is a condition in which the production of saliva is decreased, and food particles remain in the mouth to cause a bad odor. Therefore, Xerostomia is one of the major contributing factors to bad breath and poor mouth hygiene.
Use of medications and drugs
Some medications can indirectly produce bad breath by contributing to dry mouth conditions. Other medicines release bad breath-causing chemicals after their breakdown in the body. Drugs (either medicinal or recreational) have a foul odor that they can impart in breath to make it bad smelling.
Mouth Infection
Surgical or infected wounds can cause bad breath. Tooth removal, gum disease, or mouth sores can also lead to bad breath.
Mouth, nose, and throat medical conditions
Bad breath can occasionally be caused by the small stones formed in the tonsils. These stones are covered by a thin film of bacteria that produce odor. Mouth, Nose, and Throat related conditions such as infections or inflammation in the nose can also cause bad breath.
These are some common causes of bad breath and poor oral hygiene. Dealing with all these causes is highly important to keep your breath fresh and clean with good oral hygiene.
Fish breath
If you have not eaten fish for more than six hours, and you have an unpleasant fish odor coming from your mouth like a rotten fish smell, you probably have a rare condition called trimethylaminuria (TMAU). TMAU could be inherited from your parents as a genetic disease; it could start at birth. The condition can be worsened by sweating and stress. Vitamin B2 and charcoal could be taken as supplements to decrease the smell. People with TMAU should avoid supplements containing lecithin, and certain foods including eggs, beans, peanuts, cows’ milk, seafood, kidney, and liver.
Best Ways to improve oral hygiene
As you know, a wide range of dental products like mouthwashes and pastes are available in the markets to get rid of bad breath and improve dental hygiene. However, most of them are harmful to the environment because they are not manufactured by considering the green lifestyle. These products are one of the significant sources of pollution as they contain harmful chemicals and deterioration-resistant materials. There are environment-friendly, eco-friendly methods, and products to improve oral hygiene.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, face masks are opportunistic ways of decreasing the exposure of bad mouth smell while protecting against the spread of COVID-19 infection. Some type of face masks, especially facemask with filter pockets -available on the marketplace
Roses Face Mask With Filter Pocket
Brush Your Teeth regularly (especially after you eat)
Brushing your teeth after eating is the best way to eliminate food particles and avoid bad breath. Do brush your teeth thoroughly back and forth, up, and down at least three times a day -morning, mid-day, and at bedtime. Most of the ordinary toothbrushes that we are using nowadays are made of plastic, non-biodegradable material. Due to this fact, plastic causes air, water, and soil pollution. It is impossible to achieve the dream of a green lifestyle with plastic-made items, especially toothbrushes.
Use a natural, eco-friendly bamboo toothbrush
Bamboo toothbrushes are eco-friendly toothbrushes made of digestible natural materials and soft bristles. In addition, vegan bamboo toothbrushes are safe, non-harmful, and biodegradable, due to which they start disappearing from the environment after a short period. Unlike wood and plastic toothbrushes, bamboo toothbrushes are made of the bamboo plant (a member of the grass family). Toothbrush handles made from bamboo are highly biodegradable naturally. Bamboo is a natural antimicrobial agent preventing the growth of bacterial on toothbrush surfaces. Therefore, Bamboo toothbrushes are your best option to adopt a green lifestyle. https://amzn.to/3xd2y2X
Floss Daily
Proper flossing is very helpful in removing food particles and plaque from your teeth to get rid of bad breath and improve oral hygiene.
Don’t forget to brush Your Tongue
Almost 50% of the mouth’s germs are present on the tongue’s surface, so it should be cleaned properly to get rid of those bacteria. Your tongue harbors bacteria, so the only way to keep it clean is through brushing. When you brush your teeth, don’t forget to clean your tongue as well. Use a toothbrush with a built-in tongue cleaner.
Don’t let Your mouth dry
Mouth dryness can trigger bad breath, so keep your mouth moist as much as possible. Avoid smoking and consumption of alcohol; drink plenty of water instead to keep yourself hydrated. If you feel dryness in your mouth, chew gum, or candy to stimulate saliva secretion.
A good and balanced diet helps keep your breath fresh and odor-free. Avoid eating foods such as onions and garlic that can trigger bad breath. Eating many sugary foods can also lead to bad breath, so avoid them as much as possible. Schedule regular dental checkups with your dentists for proper care of your teeth and dentures.
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