Why your breath smells bad: causes of unpleasant odor in adults, treatment of possible diseases and prevention. Why does my breath smell bad?

Man is a social creature. Communication accompanies us everywhere: at home, in stores, at work, with friends. And suddenly you notice that people are moving further away, turning away from you. Agree, this is an extremely unpleasant moment. And the reason for this may be halitosis, that is, bad breath.

What to do? How to get rid of bad breath and restore the joy of communication to yourself and those around you? First of all, you need to understand the reasons why the unpleasant odor appears. And then start eliminating them.

The causes of the odor may be the following:

Oral bacteria

The most common cause of bad breath is anaerobic bacteria, living in our mouths. They decompose the remains of protein foods, releasing foul-smelling substances. Meat, fish, legumes, dairy products, and eggs are especially rich in proteins. After eating such food, you should brush your teeth or at least rinse your mouth thoroughly. The bulk of the bacteria settles in the nutritious white coating on the tongue; they accumulate under the gum line and in hard-to-reach places between the teeth. Therefore, it is necessary to purchase a brush not only for your teeth, but also for your tongue. You need to clean your tongue as deeply as possible, since the thickness of the plaque on the back of it is much greater, which means there are also more bacteria there.

Active growth putrefactive bacteria contribute to oral diseases: gingivitis, periodontal disease, stomatitis, caries. Just one rotting tooth can make your breath extremely unpleasant for others. Be sure to visit your dentist once every six months. Monitor the condition of your gums. Blood is a nutritious and “tasty” environment for the life of bacteria.

  • Inflammatory processes in oral cavity The tanning and astringent decoction of oak bark heals perfectly. Pour 2 tablespoons of crushed oak bark into a glass of boiling water, boil for 10 minutes, leave for an hour and strain. Rinse with broth 6-8 times a day. St. John's wort is useful for inflammation in the mouth. In this case, take a tablespoon of oak bark and St. John's wort per glass of boiling water.
  • For gum diseases, it is recommended to wipe the gums 3 times a day with calamus root powder; you can use it to clean your teeth by mixing it one to one with tooth powder.
  • It is useful to rinse your mouth with decoctions of calendula and chamomile. These herbs have healing, bactericidal and regenerating properties.

Foods we eat

Some foods can make breathing extremely unpleasant. Everyone knows the effect of eating garlic or onions; cabbage and radishes also cause bad breath. When these products are digested, foul-smelling compounds are formed, which enter the lungs with the blood and are eliminated from the body through the breath, giving it its own smell. Therefore, do not consume these products before leaving home, an important meeting, or a date.

  • Apples are especially recommended as a refreshing food. They contain natural sugars that successfully neutralize unpleasant odors.
  • It is very useful to chew a few sprigs of celery, parsley or dill. They contain chlorophyll, one of the most powerful suppressants of strong odors.
  • Carrots are a good breath freshener.
  • In addition, you can try some spices: cardamom, you need to chew a few grains (no need to swallow them); allspice, steep in hot water and rinse your mouth. Tea made from cloves with cinnamon in equal proportions or mint will also freshen your breath for a long time.

Bad habits

Another cause of bad breath is smoking and alcohol abuse. Everyone is familiar with the specific smell from the mouth of smokers. Nicotine, tar and other foul-smelling substances settle on the walls of the teeth and soft tissues oral cavity, causing an unpleasant odor. To get rid of it completely you should quit smoking.

Or, at a minimum, keep your mouth perfectly clean.

  • You can try mouthwash made from wormwood or strawberry infusion. A tablespoon of crushed leaves is poured into a glass of boiling water. Rinse with warm infusion 5-6 times a day, or better after each cigarette smoked.

When alcohol is abused, a breakdown product appears in the blood - acetaldehyde, a substance extremely dangerous to the body. It is partially excreted through the lungs, giving the breath a terrible fume smell. Since the smell comes from the lungs, it is very difficult to neutralize it with rinses, fruits or chewing gum.

  • Chewing a little bit of nutmeg helps.
  • As a preventive measure, we can only recommend abstinence from drinking alcoholic beverages.

Diseases of internal organs

The source of unpleasant specific odors from the oral cavity can be problems with the gastrointestinal tract or upper respiratory tract, as well as inflammation of the ears, throat or nose. In this case you definitely need to see a doctor. In addition to the main treatment, try several recipes:

  • For gastrointestinal diseases, take a tablespoon of dandelion roots, centaury herb, peppermint leaves and plantain leaves, pour 400 ml of boiling water and leave for 2-3 hours. The infusion is taken 3 times a day, 50 ml, half an hour before meals, and also rinsed the mouth several times a day.
  • Odor associated with stomach or intestinal diseases will help remove salty water. Dissolve a tablespoon of salt in half a liter of water and drink the water on an empty stomach in the morning. Repeat the procedure for five days. To avoid irritation in the stomach, be sure to drink something dairy or eat porridge a few minutes after drinking water. Similar cleaning contraindicated for any inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.
  • If the cause of the odor is inflammation of the upper respiratory tract, try herbal infusion for rinsing the mouth from the leaves and flowers of marshmallow, calendula and yarrow flowers, and large plantain leaves. In the evening, take a tablespoon of each plant, add 400 ml of water and leave until morning. Rinse 5-6 times a day.

Dry mouth

You've probably noticed that your breath isn't fresh in the morning. This happens because work slows down at night. salivary glands. Saliva is the strongest natural antiseptic. With its deficiency, oral bacteria multiply more actively and, consequently, bad breath appears. Dryness can be caused by serious illnesses such as diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases, infections, so this is a reason to consult a doctor. If the possibility of a serious illness is excluded, dryness can occur due to medications, vitamin deficiency, menopause, and also in people who, due to their profession, are forced to talk a lot.

  • Chewing gum helps relieve dryness. Chewing stimulates salivation.
  • Drink more water. Make it a habit to drink a glass of water every hour.
  • Avoid alcohol, smoking, sweets and drinks containing caffeine.
  • Eat more fruits - fruit acids stimulate salivation.

Enjoy your communication!

Various terms. Stomatodysodia, ozostomia, halitosis, fetor oris - all these are names for the same phenomenon, which turns into a real problem. And if we are talking about an important meeting, then the situation can become completely catastrophic.

Many are trying to find ways to cope with this scourge. However, chewing gum and spray do not always look appropriate and decent, and they do not solve the problem. To combat the smell, you need to find out the cause.

Causes

First on the list of reasons is insufficient mouth hydration. If you don't drink enough fluids, your body can't produce the usual amount of saliva. Because of this, tongue cells die, which become food for bacteria. As a result, a disgusting smell appears.

In general, halitosis can be caused by any decay processes occurring in the mouth.

So, if pieces of food are stuck between your teeth, they will become a treat for bacteria, which will be just as happy that you didn’t spend enough time on hygiene.

It is well known that eating garlic and onions is also on the list of main causes of unpleasant odor. But the cause of such a stench can also be diet. Thus, following strict diets bordering on a hunger strike can lead to the fact that your body begins to consume the fat it has stored for such an occasion. This process produces ketones, the presence of which will not be pleasant to the sense of smell. Many diseases, and various types, can cause halitosis. For example, damage to the lungs, liver, kidneys and diabetes. The latter is indicated by the smell of acetone.

By the way, you can determine what diseases you have by smell. So, if your breath smells like rotten eggs, this is the smell of hydrogen sulfide, indicating rotting proteins. If abdominal pain, belching and nausea appear along with it, this may indicate an ulcer or gastritis. A metallic smell indicates periodontal disease, which can cause bleeding gums. The smell of iodine indicates that there is too much of it in the body and you should immediately consult an endocrinologist.

In the presence of putrid smell you should think about possible stomach diseases with low acidity. In case of dysbacteriosis, intestinal dyskinesia and intestinal obstruction, the smell of feces will occur. A bitter smell hints at kidney problems. Sour indicates gastritis increased acidity or an ulcer.

Caries, tartar, periodontitis, gingivitis, pulpitis lead to an unpleasant odor. Even dentures can affect the freshness of your breath, because without proper care they become a springboard for the proliferation of bacteria that produce waste products - sulfur compounds. Hence the disgusting smell.

Bacteria also have a cozy home on the tongue, in the areas between teeth and along the gum line. In the presence of diseases, depressions may appear at the transition of the gums to the teeth, the so-called periodontal pockets, where anaerobic bacteria happily live and multiply. Only a dentist can clean them.

Diseases of the nasopharyngeal mucosa are also a common cause of odor, as are all diseases associated with the ENT organs, which result in the formation of pus. With such diseases, a person is often forced to breathe through the mouth, which leads to increased dryness.

Bad breath often occurs in the morning. The reason is simple: less saliva is produced during sleep, resulting in dry mouth. The less saliva, the more bacteria in the mouth, the more unpleasant the smell. For some people, this phenomenon, called xerostomia, becomes chronic.

How to find out about a smell

There are different ways to find out that your mouth has an unpleasant odor. The worst option would be for someone else to tell you about it. However, there are ways to determine this yourself, but it’s not that simple. After all, a person usually does not perceive his own smell. The problem lies in the structure human body. When a person does not want to feel something unpleasant in the air around him, he, as a rule, begins to breathe through his mouth, which prevents him from smelling it. However, there are proven options.

Covering your mouth with your palms and breathing into them will not help: you will not smell anything. Better look in the mirror at your tongue. He shouldn't have white plaque. You can lick your own wrist and smell it. Run the spoon over your tongue so that the saliva remains on it, wait until it dries and see if the smell remains.

Remedies

Remember that there is no way to completely and permanently eliminate bad breath. You will have to constantly monitor yourself and take appropriate measures.

  • Consume.
  • Buy a tongue scraper. Considering that the tongue is the habitat of a huge number of bacteria and this is the most common reason bad smell, it is recommended to use the scraper regularly.
  • Use dental floss. A considerable amount of bacteria collects between the teeth and on stuck pieces of food.
  • Eat proper food. Apples, berries, cinnamon, oranges, green tea and celery is at the top of the list of foods that will help eliminate bad odor. Bacteria love protein very much and it is after consuming it that they emit a particularly unpleasant odor. Therefore, vegetarians have almost no problems with bad breath.
  • Use mouthwash. Rinse your mouth every day for 30 seconds, after which you should not smoke or eat for half an hour.
  • There is nothing more pointless than chewing gum when you have bad breath. If you need to chew something, you can choose dill, cardamom, parsley, cinnamon stick or anise. This is a significant aid for saliva production.
  • Use herbal infusions. Since ancient times people have been using natural remedies in order not to emit an unpleasant odor. So, in Iraq, cloves were used for this purpose, in the East - anise seeds, in Brazil - cinnamon. If we talk about our country, then these are St. John's wort, wormwood, dill, chamomile.
  • To reduce the foul odor, you can drink a cup of coffee, rinse your mouth with water, and chew the coffee bean to reduce the taste in your mouth.
  • Have breakfast with oatmeal porridge, which promotes salivation, because saliva is natural remedy cleaning and disinfecting the mouth.
  • If you don't have a toothbrush at hand, at least rub your teeth and gums with your finger. At the same time, you will not only reduce the unpleasant odor, but also massage your gums.
  • Wipe your gums walnut. This will give your breath a nutty aroma, and your mouth will receive the vitamins contained in the nut.

Prevention

You should visit the dentist at least twice a year for prevention and diagnosis. As with other diseases, dental and oral diseases are best prevented or treated early. early stage, when they are almost invisible and the experienced eye of a specialist is required to recognize them and take timely measures.

But the most important thing is to carefully monitor your oral cavity. Dentists say that the way a person takes care of his teeth and mouth can indicate how attentive he is to his own health.

About 80-90% of the adult population suffers from bad breath. If in most cases this is a physiological phenomenon that can be eliminated with a toothbrush, then in 25% of patients halitosis is persistent and indicates the development of diseases of the teeth, mucous membranes or internal organs. The problem is not insoluble, but requires examination by specialists. Why does an unpleasant “aroma” appear?

Causes of bad breath

There are two types of halitosis: physiological and pathological. The first type is caused by poor diet and poor hygiene, and the second type by dental problems and diseases of the internal organs.

The main causes of putrid odor:

The appearance of a persistent odor in a man or woman should force the patient to undergo diagnostic testing of the body. In 8% of cases, the cause of the unpleasant taste of rot is diseases of the bronchi, lungs, nasal mucosa and polyps.

Why does it smell rotten?

The occurrence of an unpleasant taste is often associated with personal hygiene. Improper brushing of teeth, insufficient time allocated for morning and evening care, leads to the proliferation of bacteria, the waste products of which are deposited on the teeth, tongue and mucous membrane.

Sometimes a person can identify a problem in the body by the type of smell. This is what acetone smells like when you have diabetes. liver failure– fish, and renal dysfunction is accompanied by a pungent and heavy odor (we recommend reading:). In this case, complex treatment may be required.

Dental reasons

Bacteria that cause an unpleasant odor live on the tongue, between the teeth, and on the gums:


  1. The cause of the discomfort-causing “aroma” may be dental caries. Microbes and food debris accumulate in the cavities of tooth enamel, which decompose over time. It is almost impossible to clean holes in teeth using hygiene products.
  2. With periodontitis, microorganisms actively develop under the gums, which is accompanied by the release of a sulfurous odor.
  3. Other diseases can also be the cause: stomatitis, periodontal disease, dysbacteriosis, dysfunction of the salivary glands.
  4. A common problem is improper care for structures - mouthguards, prostheses. The accumulation of saliva and food particles leads to intensive growth of bacteria during their use.

Problems with the gastrointestinal tract

Based on the nature of the smell, you can independently determine the problem:

  1. Sour smell (we recommend reading:). Appears when acidity increases gastric juice. May be a consequence of pancreatitis, stomach ulcers, gastritis.
  2. Smell of feces. Appears with intestinal obstruction, dysbiosis, poor absorption nutrients. “Aroma” can be a concern when the digestive process is disrupted, when foods are slowly absorbed, causing fermentation to begin.
  3. Smell of hydrogen sulfide. Occurs with gastritis or decreased acidity in the stomach. It may also be a consequence of food poisoning.

Contributes to the development of bad breath protein food: meat and dairy products. The substances break down and form alkaline compounds, which change the acid balance in the mouth. Microorganisms begin to actively multiply, causing an unpleasant odor.

Other reasons

The smell of rot can be caused by other factors:


The smell of rot in the breath of a child or teenager

A child or teenager may experience bad breath for a number of reasons. The main factor is the development of pathogenic microorganisms on the tongue or in the tonsils due to an imbalance in the microflora. This occurs due to the appearance of dry mouth, the causes of which may be:

Less common are other factors that cause a putrid taste - the appearance of caries or diseases of the stomach and intestines. The child will need to undergo a comprehensive examination.

Diagnostic methods

To identify the presence of plaque in the mouth that causes bad breath, you can carry out the procedure yourself using a sanitary napkin or dental floss. If there is a yellow coating on the material and an odor appears after 30-45 seconds, you should contact a specialist.

In medicine, various methods are used to identify halitosis and the causes of its occurrence:


If your breath smells like rot, the doctor can analyze your medical history (when did the smell appear, are there any diseases of the internal organs, is the problem related to food intake). An important part of the study is to perform a detailed blood test on a person to determine the level of sugar, kidney and liver enzymes.

The patient undergoes examinations by an otolaryngologist, gastroenterologist and pulmonologist. This will allow you to identify diseases of the nasopharynx, as well as exclude or confirm systemic diseases liver, kidneys, diabetes, problems with the respiratory system.

Treatment methods

Patients wonder what to do if there is bad taste in the mouth? Treatment depends on the cause of the problem.

  • ENT diseases require a visit to an otolaryngologist; chronic diseases require consultation with individual specialists.
  • If the cause of bad breath is diseases of the oral cavity, it is necessary to remove decayed teeth and fill the areas damaged by caries. It won't hurt to go through professional cleaning deposits (stone, plaque), which can only be done in a dental clinic.

Preventive measures

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