Bad Breath and Halitosis: What to Know

There are many things that you might have known about your bad breath. But, we are about to make you an expert on all things stinky.

For example, a study done by Match.com shows that 43% of singles claimed that fresh breath was the most important thing they looked for in their date. Among other answers were good hair, good skin, a great fragrance (cologne or perfume), and stylish clothes.

What else do you need to know?

Bad Breath vs. Halitosis

Bad breath and halitosis are not always the same thing. Halitosis can cause bad breath, but not all bad breath is caused by halitosis.

Bad breath could easily stem from those onion rings you had at lunch, or the garlic that was in your pasta. These two foods just naturally have stronger odors which can linger in your mouth and even in your lungs. Anyone who eats these foods is likely to have dragon breath afterward.

Halitosis however, is caused by bacteria in your mouth. There are varying levels of severity with halitosis, ranging from something that you can fix on your own to making special trips to visit your dentist.

Chronic Halitosis is an Imbalance of Bacteria

A serious case of halitosis is caused by an imbalance of bacteria in the mouth, resulting in very bad breath. Bacteria need to be in your mouth to help break down the food you eat. But, too much of this type of bacteria will lead to bad breath.

You will typically need to visit a dentist to determine if you have an overabundance of anaerobic bacteria.

You May Not Know

Many who suffer from bad breath or halitosis may not know just how bad their breath smells. You might think that they can smell it for themselves, but this is actually untrue for more than one reason.

As for those who just ate something pungent, your sense of smell and taste and tightly intertwined so you might actually be mistaking smell for taste, and vice versa.

However, for someone with halitosis, they might not know the difference. Your nose can become desensitized to the smell and if there has always been some sort of smell, then you might be spending an extended period of time not realizing you have bad breath.

If you find that you have persistent bad breath, there is probably a larger problem lurking in your mouth. Call your dentists at Friendly Dentistry today and we will help you figure out the cause of your bad breath.