Bad Breath

Halitosis, commonly referred to as Bad Breath affects a large number of people throughout the world. There are many causes to this but there are at least seven most common ones:

• Accumulation of Food Debris: this is the most common reason of bad breath. The food is acted upon by bacteria which in turn gives off the rotten egg smell.
• Tooth Decay: this is an important cause of bad breath because it is active disease sitting there rotting your tooth from the outside in. 
• Dry mouth or Xerostomia: Saliva is an active bacterial fighter and when there is reduction of saliva, bacteria grows faster creating bad breath.
• Gum Disease and Periodontal Disease: these are active causes of bad breath as there is also active bacteria and infection at work in the gums and bone levels. Until you see a health care professional to clean it out and treat it, the bacteria will continue to grow giving off once again, bad breath.
• Smoking: this leads nicotine, tar, and other chemicals found in cigarettes to accumulate in your mouth and gums giving off "smokers breath".
• Severe Dieting: It is important to have a health diet for a number of reasons and this is just one of them. When you are malnourished, your mouth, teeth, and gums are affected and prolonged starvation or poor diet is a huge factor in this. 
• Extra-oral sources: Stomach problems, infections in the respiratory system, diabetes, and kidney dysfunction are just some of the few issues that also have a side affect of bad breath. 

The cure for bad breath: 

1. First and foremost, brush and floss everyday to keep the food that you eat everyday from attacking your teeth and gums and allowing the bacteria to grow. 
2. Second you need to brush your tongue, you can brush with your toothbrush or you can buy a toothbrush that has a tongue cleaner on the back of it. 
3. Keep your mouth wet with activating saliva. Drink plenty of water throughout the day, suck on a sugar free mint or chew sugar free gum. 
4. Don't rely on mints to cure your bad breath. It will only mask the odor for a certain period of time and when it wears off, you bad breath will still be there. 
5. Check your diet. If you have been eating garlic or onions, there is a huge contributor to your breath. However, when you eat meat, if there are any leftover particles in your mouth, those will give off odor until you get them out. Also you need to make sure that you are eating enough carbohydrates a day to stay out of Ketosis, a metabolic state that causes your body to burn fat instead of sugar. Ketosis is notorious for bad breath.
6. If you can't brush and floss after every meal, at least rinse your mouth after eating and drinking anything other than water. 
7. You can use natural resources to help keep bacteria down. Examples would be drinking green tea and also eating anything with mint, parsley, basil, cilantro and dill will work to temporarily mask odors. 
8. Eat sweet foods such as citrus, melons, and berries. They are packed with Vitamin C and the more C laden fruits you eat, the more oral bacteria you will kill. 
9. Stop the nicotine, smoking or chewing. No one likes to smell cigarettes or chewing tobacco and especially if you plan on kissing your partner, it would be in your best interest to stop the nicotine. 
10. Visit your dentist. If you notice after all of these other cures that you still have bad breath, go see your dentist and see what he recommends.