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Have you ever wondered why people shrink back or give an unfriendly expression, when you open your mouth to talk or address a group of people at close range? The truth is that they do that because an unfriendly odour greets their nostrils. Not wanting to hurt your feelings, they tolerate that foul smell as much as they can till they find an excuse to move away. Or you want to kiss your partner and as soon as you draw near with your mouth, you get stopped because of bad breath.
Dr Segun Olukayode Adeyanju of Divine Dental Home, Victoria Island, Lagos says when it comes to the word ‘bad mouth odour’, nobody feels good asking and so people instead of being offensive choose to be conservative in the choice of language but rather would say ‘you have a bad breath’ which is a bit subtle.
Halitosis is the medical term for persistent or chronic bad breath, characterized by unpleasant odours originating from the mouth, such as fishy or rotten egg smells. It is typically caused by bacteria breaking down food particles, poor oral hygiene, dry mouth, or underlying health issues.
Bad mouth odour is a pathological disease condition whereby the breath from the mouth at a close range of anybody speaking to you is unfriendly. Some could be quite offensive, so much that you just have to step back to keep away or in other cases, the recipient of that breath would make some body movement and try to call your attention.
Ideally, one’s breath should not be unfriendly rather it should be such that anybody talking with you at a close range should be able to tolerate it. And when you can’t tolerate that then it is termed bad breath.
Causes of bad breath: There are primary and secondary causes of bad breath. The first primary cause of bad breath is gum disease because most of the time when a person has gum disease, it harbours a high concentration of bacteria. What that means is that the gum becomes a collection site for a lot of bacteria and because the teeth are embedded in the gum, oxygen cannot access such spots and your regular cleansing cannot access such spots. Those bacteria produce some sulphur compounds which result in bad breath. In fact, one of the signs of gum disease is established bad breath and it is interesting to know that seven out 10 Nigerian adults have gum disease which they are not aware of because it doesn’t threaten lifestyle and daily living. Another cause is poor oral hygiene and could be as a result of not brushing regularly and effectively; maybe you brush once and it is not done just effectively, it leads to a buildup in the mouth, which will obviously lead to gum disease. Also from your tongue, there is a large concentration of bacteria which reside at the back of the tongue. If you don’t brush properly, those places collect a lot of bacteria and that causes bad breath. Thirdly, when you have tooth decay; probably there are teeth that have got rotten, which you refuse to treat and most times, you use tooth pick so often to remove food particles that collect in between the teeth each time you finish eating – it is a sign of tooth decay and can result in bad breath.
The number four cause is infection which can be identified when you feel pain while swallowing or hotness when you take peppery food. These are warning signs of infection or untreated ulceration in the mouth that persists for some time because you won’t be able to clean properly and that area will be bringing out some (bad breath) infection.
Some oral ulcers may be the result of stress, cancer or tumour of the soft tissue and hormonal imbalance that could trigger the monthly menstrual cycle or pregnancy. This prevents you from brushing adequately because it is too tender to collect bacteria because of ulcer resulting in bad breath.
Secondary causes of bad breath:
The mouth is a major gateway to the body and serves as the first organ in the gastrointestinal system. It plays a role in the mastication of food. It leads to the throat, gullet (esophagus), stomach and then the intestine. Any infection along the pathway can cause bad breath because there is a connection. For instance, when you belch, because there is something wrong with the stomach you bring out something offensive- bad breath. Another secondary reason is constipation because the person does not go to the toilet regularly but keeps eating. When you belch, an offensive breath comes through because there is a connection in the facial structure – the nose and the mouth are connected. Due to the close connection, if there is an infection like sinusitis or chest infection it can lead to bad breath. When there is a reduction in the flow of saliva in the mouth mostly during fasting, this gives room for the proliferation of these bacteria that lead to bad breath. The same happens when you wake up in the morning. Overnight, as a person sleeps, salivary flow is less and because of not eating bacterial activity increases, that is why everybody wants to quickly brush and get refreshed. This breath is referred to as transient or temporary bad breath and everybody has it but that doesn’t mean you have bad breath but the moment you drink water and brush your teeth, your breath is normal. But the base of bad breath is poor oral hygiene.
Three signs of bad breath
The olfactory system (which refers to the organs for smelling) is adaptive in nature. For this reason, most people who have bad breath do not know they have it. That means, if you come into a room with a funny odour after five minutes you don’t perceive it again but a person who comes into the room will perceive it. So the way to know you have bad breath is either to suck the back of your hand after which you can smell, if it is unfriendly then you have breath. Or use products designed for bad breath testing, like a gauge that indicates bad breath. And then through friends, spouse or colleague but few people are courageous enough to tell you that you need to see a dentist which is the objective way to know if you have bad breath.
Treatment and prevention of bad breath
Adeyanju explains that bad breath can be manageably treated and prevented. Hear him: “First step involves effective home care. Most people don’t brush well and don’t use the right toothbrush (they use hard smokers or wisdom hard toothbrushes). The hard stuff does more harm than good. Effective brushing involves using a soft toothbrush, medium at worst but more importantly the time you use in brushing and the method used in brushing. Most people, who have not gone to the dentist, don’t know the effective way.
“Good brushing must not take less than 120 seconds (two minutes). You brush the teeth thoroughly from one side to the other, up and down, from your gum line to the bottom inside with the mouth slightly opened. You also brush your tongue with a special brush. Also use warm salt water to squash the mouth occasionally.
“Clean in-between the teeth by using dental floss (a threadlike string) and not tooth pick. When we don’t floss over a period of time, the in-between space of our teeth becomes inflamed leading to bad breath.”
For an exercise, Adeyanju says the next time you pick your teeth, take and smell what you bring out, you will feel a slightly offensive breath.
To prevent bad breath, it is important to visit your dentist regularly, at least once in six months except where there is a serious dental problem. Bad breath resulting from tooth decay can be handled by teeth filling, root canal or extraction. Drink a lot of water to increase saliva flow.
