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Brushing your teeth every day and having bad breath may have ignored these 2 points

Recently, Zhimei's girlfriend encountered a very embarrassing thing:

The girlfriend said that her boyfriend always had a strange taste in his mouth, and he would smell it when he got close, but he didn't seem to know it, and he always wanted to kiss and asked if there was anything he could do.

(Source: Network)

In fact, everyone is surrounded by several people with bad breath.

Today, Zhimei will talk about this problem of "not strong hurt, extremely insulting".

In China, there are not many people with bad breath, and the prevalence of bad breath is 27.5%[1], which means that one in every 4 people has bad breath.

Even people who brush their teeth every day and pay attention to oral hygiene may have bad breath.

However, many people are tired of smell, that is, they have smelled for a long time and are used to it, and they cannot detect that they have bad breath and inadvertently "hurt people"!

(Source: giphy)

Seeing this, we may wish to test whether we have bad breath first

The more reliable self-test method is:

Find a tasteless spoon, spit out your tongue as much as you can, then gently scrape your tongue near the back of your throat and smell the dry residue .[2]

Most people's bad breath is affected by the smell of hydrogen sulfide and has a rotten egg smell [3].

Others have acid reflux due to gastrointestinal dyspepsia, and bad breath is sour and rotten [4].

If you smell a similar odor, then there is a high probability that you have bad breath!

(Source: Shenzhen Health Commission)

Of course, the most accurate thing is to go to the oral medicine department for a test.

1. Have these habits

He prefers to eat foods with heavy flavors such as betel nut, garlic, leeks, coriander, radish, pickles, and coffee.[5,6]

Smoking and drinking alcohol[6].

Oral hygiene is not in place, such as not rinsing after meals, brushing teeth without brushing right.

Taking certain medications such as antidepressants, hypertension medications, etc. [7]. These medications can cause dry mouth, and inadequate saliva washes away food scraps and bacteria, causing bad breath.

2. Have oral diseases or other diseases

80%-90% of bad breath is caused by oral diseases [8], in other words, bad breath is likely to be a signal that we should pay attention to oral health!

For example, plaque and calculus can become the "umbrella" of bacteria.

Bacteria hide inside, can decompose food residues, saliva, shed tissues in the mouth, etc., and produce volatile sulfides, indole and ammonia, causing bad breath [9].

If the teeth slowly decay and form caries (tooth decay), it will make food more easily embedded, bacteria more likely to spread, and even further damage the gums, dental nerves, etc., resulting in necrosis of gum tissue, ulcers, and odor [10].

The back of the tongue can also be a shelter for these bacteria.

In addition to oral sources, the majority of diseases in the ear, nose and throat areas [11] such as tonsillitis, tonsil stones, sinusitis, and retronasal drip syndrome.

Tonsil stones

Gastrointestinal disorders can also cause bad breath, such as gastroesophageal reflux and Helicobacter pylori infection [3].

If you just wake up early in the morning and find that you have "breath", it is physiological bad breath, which is caused by a decrease in saliva secretion during sleep, and it will disappear after drinking water and eating, without treatment [12].

1

Treatment of causes of bad breath[13]

Catching the king first, finding the potential source of bad breath and curing it is the most efficient way to treat bad breath.

It is recommended that you hang up a stomatology department first, do a comprehensive oral health examination, and find out the causes of bad breath, such as periodontal disease, wisdom teeth, bad restorations, food incarceration, tooth decay, and carry out corresponding treatment.

If it is caused by gastrointestinal diseases, etc., you should also go to the appropriate department for treatment.

2

Gargling in time after meals can also help control bad breath

Rinse your mouth with water immediately after eating, which can minimize food debris and reduce the reproduction of oral bacteria.

If bad breath is severe, gargling with antibacterial mouthwash under the guidance of a physician may not be used for long periods of time, as it may disrupt the balance of the oral flora and cause coloration of mucous membranes and teeth [14,16,17].

3

Brush your teeth morning and evening, be sure to brush for 3 minutes

Although many people brush their teeth every day, they don't necessarily brush correctly.

For example, many people will ignore the inner side of brushing teeth, the grooves of the gums, and many people do not brush their teeth for 3 minutes.

And the dirt between the teeth, the plaque on the adjacent surfaces of the teeth, the toothbrush can't do anything, so we have to floss at least once a day.

Larger gap between teeth can be brushed between teeth.

Finally, remember to brush your tongue, soft-bristled toothbrushes, tongue scrapers, and tongue cleaners are all good, but the latter two will be cleaner.[18]

4

Drink plenty of water

Dry oral environment can cause reduced saliva secretion, reduce the ability to wash away oral plaque, and also cause oral odor.

Drinking more water helps the salivary glands secrete more saliva, and drinking water also has a rinsing effect on the mouth.

Drink less coffee and alcoholic beverages, otherwise it is easy to dry your mouth.

5

Regular teeth cleaning and oral examinations

Brush toothbrush without losing tooth stones.

Regular teeth cleaning can effectively remove plaque and calculus, give our teeth a "big cleaning", and timely find and deal with early oral problems, thereby reducing the occurrence of bad breath.

6

Try to avoid irritating foods before socializing

Such as onions, garlic, leeks, etc., although these foods are harmless to the body, they are easy to become "saboteurs" of social activities.

In addition, you can also use perfume spray, chewing gum, etc. before social events.

Finally, I wish everyone a fresh breath object ~

Reviewer

Jingquan | Chief Physician of department of stomatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital

bibliography

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[12] Porter S R, Scully C. Oral malodour (halitosis)[J]. Bmj, 2006, 333(7569): 632-635.

[13] Singh VP, Malhotra N, Apratim A, Verma M. Assessment and management of halitosis. DentUpdate.2015May;42(4):346-8,351-3.doi:10.12968/denu.2015.42.4.346. PMID: 26062259.

[14] Aylikci BU, Colak H. Halitosis: From diagnosis to management. J Nat Sci Biol Med. 2013;4:14–23.

[15] Outhouse TL, Al-Alawi R, Fedorowicz Z, Keenan JV. Tongue scraping for treating halitosis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006:CD005519.

[16] Fedorowicz Z, Aljufairi H, Nasser M, Outhouse TL, Pedrazzi V. Mouthrinses for the treatment of halitosis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008:CD006701.

[17] Kumbargere Nagraj S, Eachempati P, Uma E, Singh VP, Ismail NM, Varghese E. Interventions for managing halitosis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019 Dec 11;12(12):CD012213. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012213.pub2. PMID: 31825092; PMCID: PMC6905014.

[18] Seemann R, KISON A, BIZHANG M, et al. Effectiveness of mechanical tongue cleaning on oral levels of volatile sulfur compounds[J]. The Journal of the American Dental Association, 2001, 132(9): 1263-1267.

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