Greetings Monroe! Welcome back to the ongoing dental health blog of Bayou Dental Group in Monroe, LA. Today we want to give you a rundown of three causes of a thing no one enjoys: bad breath. <\/p>\n
Bad breath has many different causes, and simply swigging mouthwash only masks the scent. It\u2019s not dissimilar to spraying air freshener on a trash can. We you know the root causes of bad breath, you can address those issues and put the mouthwash away.<\/p>\n
#3. The Food You Eat<\/strong><\/p>\n This one may seem obvious. Everyone is always ready to point the finger of blame at garlic and onions. But they are far from the only food-based causes of bad breath. <\/p>\n The potential for bad breath begins the moment you take a bite of food. From your early morning banana and coffee, to your late night ice cream binges, everything you eat promotes bad breath. <\/p>\n The simple act of eating leaves particles of food sticking to your teeth, and other parts of your mouth. These microscopic remnants are a normal part of regular eating and swallowing. The remnants of this food attracts bacteria, which can cause tooth decay and bad breath. Bacteria can cause odor, leaving your breath smelling foul.<\/p>\n Some food attracts more bacteria than other food. The biggest bacteria-magnet tends to sugar; sugar also happens to be the biggest cause of tooth decay. Sugar is in all sorts of foods. <\/p>\n It makes your soda taste great, it naturally occurs in many vegetables and fruit, and fills you candy bars. Even high carbohydrate foods like pasta and bread breakdown into sugar when chew. All of this sugar attracts bacteria and makes your breath smell.<\/p>\n Even starchy foods breakdown into natural sugars as you eat. Sugar attracts odor-causing bacteria, and makes your breath smell bad. Removing this bacteria is easy, just brush your teeth after you eat. If you can\u2019t do that, rinse your mouth out with water.<\/p>\n #2. Lack of Hydration Kills Your Breath<\/strong><\/p>\n Dry mouth leaves you with unpleasant breath, and potentially tooth decay. When you\u2019re mouth isn\u2019t hydrated, it\u2019s not producing saliva. Saliva and hydration from water remove bacteria from your mouth, washing away odor. <\/p>\n Dry mouth is often a naturally occurring condition, and has many different causes. The most common is just breathing through your mouth- be it for exercise or due to congestion- you will almost certainly end up with a dry mouth. Water in your mouth dries up as it\u2019s exposed to oxygen.<\/p>\n Lighting up and smoking a cigarette (or other substance) can dry your mouth right up. Other common causes of dry mouth are simply side-effects of different prescription medications; Adderall and Ritalin are often causes of dry mouth.<\/p>\n But dealing with a dry mouth is relatively simple. Just increase your hydration through intaking more water. Water you drink removes bacteria from the deep corners of your mouth, and actually increase your own natural production of saliva. <\/p>\n Tap water is the best option; public supplies of water are filled with fluoride, which strengthens your enamel. This can slow the spread of tooth decay and prevent tooth decay.<\/p>\n Another great option to hydrate your mouth is to chew sugar-free gum. When you chew gum,
\nit encourages your mouth\u2019s natural production of saliva. Another great benefit is that it can cover bad breath in the interim.<\/p>\n