Beat Bad Breath And Boost Your Confidence!

Chronic bad breath or halitosis can negatively affect your work, social, and love lives, and absolutely kill your confidence.

Some people with bad breath avoid any kind of social life at all.

Maybe worse, you may be killing your social life with bad breath and not even know it!

It’s true – people with bad breath can’t smell their own, so they don’t know!

At Captivate Dental, we can not only detect your bad breath, but we can help you treat it and prevent it from returning!

A home check for bad breath

You can try to check your own breath:

Lick the inside of your wrist. Wait a few seconds until the saliva dries. Sniff the inside of your wrist where the saliva has dried. This is an approximation of what your breath smells like, with a focus on the front of your mouth.

Swab the back of your tongue with your finger or a piece of cotton gauze. Remove the swab and give it a sniff to get an idea of how the back of your mouth smells.

If you think you have a breath problem in either the front or back of your mouth, give us a call!

The Importance Of The ‘Cause’ Of Bad Breath

In order to eliminate bad breath, you need to know what’s causing it. There are about 10 common causes of bad breath:

Drinking and eating some foods and drinks: Some drinks and foods, particularly coffee, garlic and onions, are well-known for creating bad breath. The smell is expelled through the breath, and the odours remain until the body processes the food.

Plaque buildup: When you don’t brush properly, or often enough, bacteria can form in your mouth, and this is one of the primary causes of bad breath.

Infrequent flossing: When you aren’t careful with your flossing, small bits of food can get lodged between your teeth and around your gums. These are difficult places for a toothbrush to reach to root them out. When particles of food are left in the mouth, they begin to collect bacteria, which can lead to plaque and bad breath.

Tongue bacteria: Bacterial growth on the tongue accounts for more than 80% of cases of mouth-related bad breath.

Smoking: Smoking is a major cause of bad breath (among other terrible things!). Smoking can cause extremely bad breath; you may not notice it because you are accustomed to the smell.

Dry mouth: When there isn’t enough saliva to wash away excess food particles and bacteria, many bad things can happen, including an unpleasant smell. Stress, mouth-breathing, and medicines can cause dry mouth.

Morning breath: This is really just a kind of dry mouth. Your mouth produces less saliva while sleep and bad breath odours are typically worse when you first wake up.

Medical conditions: Bad breath can be the result of health conditions including, respiratory infections, chronic sinusitis, gastrointestinal disturbance, chronic bronchitis, diabetes, or liver or kidney ailments. If you have long-term bad breath and Captivate Dental rules out oral health problems as the cause, it’s time to see your medical doctor for an evaluation.

Dealing With Bad Breath At Home

There are several steps you can take to fight bad breath at home:

Hydrate. Drinking enough water is the simplest step you can take to control bad breath!

Brush and floss. This is really simple. Brushing twice a day and flossing at least once helps fight the build-up of food particles and bacteria, which can quickly cause bad breath if not removed.

Clean your tongue. Tongue scrapers are available over the counter, or a toothbrush can be used on the tongue’s surface.

Eat well. Certain foods like onion or garlic are known to cause bad breath. Surprisingly, avoiding acidic foods (like vinegar) or high-fructose foods (like sugary cereal) can also cut down on bad breath. Both sugars and acids stimulate the production of bacteria and, consequently, bad breath.

Use a mouthrinse. Mouthrinse alone is not a good cure, but it can reduce symptoms of bad breath and can be used in addition to regular brushing and flossing.

What Captivate Dental Can Do

If you have bad breath, set up an appointment with us. We can determine the cause of your bad breath and how it should be treated. Often, a dental scale and clean and a refresher on home oral hygiene habits are enough to beat bad breath!

The Captivate Dental Advantage

When it comes to providing you and your family with quality dental care in a friendly and warm environment, Captivate Dental can’t be beaten. From routine dental procedures like check-ups to complicated dental needs like implants and root canals, the Cheltenham dental team has you covered!

Visit your Cheltenham dentist today!