Fascinated by why your breath stinks? Mostly it’s bacteria, but it’s a slew of things that attribute to that bacteria building up and turning your mouth into a petri dish that renders your breath smelling like a volcano, aka sulfur and decay. So what exactly contributes to bad breath destroying your mouth’s delicate equilibrium? In our previous article we discussed some of the common practices to keep your breath under control, in this entry, we’ll continue to analyze and discover the various factors that affect how your breath smells and your overall oral health.

Good Dental Practices

Part of keeping your breath from smelling like hot garbage is keeping up with the routine your dentist recommends to you. Your Missoula dentist asks you to brush and floss after every meal for a reason. Reason A being that they have no desire to smell your stinky breath any more than your kids, your significant other, or your boss does. But it’s also because it is good dental practice and promotes decent oral health. Brushing your teeth with an electric toothbrush is, in general, a really great start to promoting your own oral health and keeping your mouth in tip-top shape. Most folks don’t take into account that they need to brush their teeth for the full time, but the timers and consistent movement of an electric toothbrush lets you feel your teeth getting cleaned and times it out for you so you don’t quite too early and shortchange yourself.

Does What You Eat Affect Oral Health?

Have you smelled a can of sardines? Have you eaten sardines? Do you notice the correlation? What you eat will totally make your breath smell no matter what. It’s not because of the reason you believe either. It’s because what you eat travels down to your stomach, gets absorbed into your bloodstream and then breathed out through your lungs. Apart from garlic, onions, fish and other generally stinky foods that only get worse once they’ve been digested, low carb diets and fasting diets will also make your breath smell much like your old socks.

Controlling Bad Breath

A great way to combat what will eventually come out in your pores and on your breath is to throw in a watery veggie like celery or carrots for a snack. Water dense veggies will help clean out your mouth and limit the amount of food debris that’s building up.

Other factors come down to simple health guidelines such as staying hydrated. If you’re not able to brush your teeth after a meal, hit up the water. Water is great for you in so many ways, but it’ll also help rinse debris that could decay if left in the mouth for too long. You might even try a glass of milk since it acts as a great stabilizer. Avoid coffee and tobacco in order to sidestep the chronic bad breath and think about chewing sugar-free gum before your meal. The gum will increase saliva production which will naturally wash food out of your mouth faster than normal.

Contact Bitterroot Dental

If you’re searching for a way to get rid of your chronic bad breath, come in for a checkup and we can offer some solutions while trying to diagnose the issue. Bitterroot Dental is here to help with all of your general oral health care needs as your Missoula dentist.