Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and you got irritated with the foul smell from their breath? One would ask what is Bad breath? Bad breath is known as a mouth odor. It occurs when there are high bacteria in the mouth and most especially in the tongue and down to the esophagus (throat). Have you ever been shunned to go brush your teeth? Happens mostly in a conversation and trust me only people who love you would tell that to your face, it always comes as an embarrassment but it’s very helpful to advise. Having a bad breath is not the end of the world, it’s very avoidable and treatable. Generally, everyone has a bad breath from waking up from sleep every morning, most especially when you did not brush your teeth before sleep. There are always bacteria in your mouth and they tend to multiply when there is a blockage of air in your mouth. Have you kept quiet for some hours with my lips shut? Have you imagined how your mouth tasted when you finally let air in? Have you noticed it looks weird and your mouth feels different when you are silent for a long time? Exactly! This is because the bacteria in your mouth have multiplied and this happened because you did not let air in. Know this, Air is an enemy of microorganisms in the mouth.
As a person, you can’t smell your breath, you cannot tell how bad your breath is, this is why you most especially need the help of someone to alert you or rather maintain proper mouth hygiene to avoid being told. Some people go as far as blocking their mouths with their palms and breathing on them. This action would not give you the best result of the ooze of your breath. To know if your breath is bad, take up any of your palms and turn the back of your palm and lick it, after licking it, let the saliva dry up, when dry, smell the area you licked, whatever you perceive afterward becomes the smell of your breath. Another way to spot your bad Breath is by checking the color of your tongue, if your tongue is whitish, then it means there is a lot of bacteria created by a high amount of sodium compounds in the mouth. Your tongue should always be pinkish, if your tongue is pink, then you should know your breath poses a higher chance of being less smelly. If your tongue is pink, it shows that plenty of bacteria are absent.
Bad breath is caused by a lot of factors one of them is lack of air in the mouth otherwise known as ‘Dry Mouth’. Like I said earlier, when the mouth is shut, bacteria tend to multiply faster, and the air is an enemy of microorganisms in the mouth. Other causes of bad breath are Alcohol, Medications, Gum Disease, and Dairy products amongst other products.
Alcoholic substances have a way of staying back to our breath, this is why is always easy to spot someone drunk out of many. Alcoholic substances retain a stench in our breath. Medications can also cause bad breath. Most oral medications smell foul and leave an after smell when we do not rinse our mouths immediately, most of these medications come in syrups. Gum diseases are mostly caused by our ignorance. A lot of people after they have spotted their bad breaths, will immediately get sweet scenting candies and eat thinking that the candies will eradicate the bad breath, they do not know that these sugar in form of Sucrose and glucose feeds the already existing bacteria in the mouth which would in-turn multiple the bacteria and making the mouth foul. These sweets and candies do not even offer any help instead, they add more to the problems. To you, you might feel the sweet scents in your breath but the bacteria just got fed and have already started multiplying to cause more havoc. Dairy products are products made out of milk. These products contain a lot of fat that sticks and feeds the bacteria in your mouth. Such dairy products like Chocolates, cheese, milk, etc can cause more harm when consumed.
Bad breath can be treated. Just like any other issue, it has its solutions and preventive measures. One has to always ensure proper mouthwash, brushing your teeth, and scrubbing your tongue every day, in the morning when you wake and at night before you sleep.
Take caution with the toothpaste you use, some people go for toothpaste with high fluoride because it has peppermint, a lot of people think the more it hurts the more it kills, but no! It doesn’t work like that, some of these painful teething products can harm you when you think they are helping you. It does not have to be painful to work.
Visit your dentist regularly to have your teeth checked to avoid every form of mouth problem. Also ensure to always rinse your mouth after eating most especially, dairy products.
Avoid making use of sweets and candies, make use of powerful Lozenges.
Avoid cigarettes!
Avoid alcohol at odd times!
When your mouth is healthy, you will be healthy too, never forget this!