"Hi friend, do you have bad breath?"
Hearing this question, many people's first reaction is:
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Don't rush to make up your mind, in fact, there are many friends with bad breath!
According to statistics, about 10% to 65% of people worldwide have suffered from bad breath [1]. In China, the prevalence of bad breath is 27.5% [2].
Recently, because the mask is worn more, many friends realize that they really have bad breath:
(Source: Sina Weibo)
The father who wanted face finally bowed his head in front of bad breath....
In the past, "bad breath" was always injured by others, so many people did not know that they had been "exporting hurting people".
Since wearing a mask, for more than a month, I don't know what the virus is, what bad breath is, many people understand!
Strange! Why does bad breath always stink others
Can't smell it yourself?
There are two main reasons for this, one is from the perspective of human body structure, the soft palate part at the back of the mouth is connected to the nasal cavity, and the nose cannot smell the odor produced by the back of the mouth.
The second is that our olfactory nerve cells have been staying with our own "smell" for a long time, and they have long been smoked and cannot smell.
After wearing the mask, the mouth and nose are in a confined space, and the odor in the mouth is easy to gather. The moisture exhaled in the mouth and the droplets during conversation will form a local humid and warm environment around the mouth, which is easy to cause the breeding of bacteria in the mouth, and it is easier to produce oral odor under the decomposition of microorganisms.
So, bad breath encounters masks, always easy to roll over!
So how can you quietly find out if you have a tone problem without wearing a mask?
There is a very popular "30-second self-test method" on the Internet:
"Stick your wrist out, use the middle of your tongue, lick your wrist, wait for 30 seconds for the saliva to dry a little, and then smell the licking position."
However, some studies have found that this test is inaccurate and can lead to overestimated results [8]. That is to say, people who did not have bad breath in the first place also measured bad breath themselves and scared themselves...
A more reliable approach is to find a disposable plastic spoon (often found in takeaway box lunches) and gently scrape the back of your tongue and smell the dry residue.
Friends who have courage can also breathe at the people around them and observe their reactions...
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Brush your teeth every day, or bad breath!
Where exactly does this taste come from?
Bad breath does have a lot to do with brushing teeth, but it's not all about brushing.
For example, after eating garlic, our entire mouth is filled with the smell of garlic.
What's even more frightening is that even if you brush your teeth and rinse your mouth, you can't get rid of the taste of garlic right away!
Because the odor molecules in garlic will enter the blood from the stomach, and then through the blood to the lungs, from the lungs through the respiratory tract exhaled.
Therefore, people who have just eaten garlic, even their lungs are "garlic lungs"...
Bad breath caused by drinking, smoking, eating onions, etc., is usually a temporary odor directly from the digestive tract or respiratory tract, which is physiological and will be eliminated by itself [3].
As for bad breath in the morning, it is actually related to dry mouth. When the mouth lacks "saliva", the self-cleaning flushing effect is weakened, and bacteria are more likely to breed, which in turn produces odorous gases. Generally, if you brush your teeth carefully for 3 minutes, it will be gone.
However, some bad breath can not always be shaken off, nor can it be covered up, it is definitely necessary to attract attention.
This type of bad breath is usually pathological and caused by oral or other systemic diseases. According to statistics, 80%-90% of bad breath is related to intraoral factors [3], which is medically known as "oral" bad breath: bacteria in the mouth (mainly Gram-negative anaerobic bacteria) decompose the metabolites of sulfur-containing amino acids, mainly volatile sulfides (VSCs), which is the main source of odor in the mouth.
These bacteria are mainly found in periodontal pockets and tongue moss.
People with poor oral hygiene, periodontal disease, dental caries, and oral mucosal disease (e.g., recurrent mouth ulcers) are more likely to provoke oral-derived bad breath [4].
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
In addition, studies have found that tongue moss is the hardest hit area for bad breath! 60% of the volatile sulfides in the breath are produced by bacteria on the surface of the tongue! (Friends, brushing tongue moss is very important!) ）
After the oral hygiene environment has become better and these diseases have been cured, bad breath can basically be removed.
The other 10% or so of bad breath is caused by extraoral causes, called "non-oral halitosis". For example, the pharynx, larynx, lungs and stomach, these organs adjacent to the mouth may become the source of odor. Studies in recent years have shown that helicobacter pylori (HP), one of the most infected pathogens in the world, may also be the source of bad breath [5]. Therefore, people with bad breath, after excluding oral diseases, must check whether Helicobacter pylori exceeds the standard.
In general, the relationship between the oral environment and bad breath is inextricably linked. The surest way to avoid bad breath is to start with oral hygiene.
How to get rid of "bad breath"?
Pay attention to these 5 details in life, bad breath to say goodbye to you:
1. Brush your teeth in the morning and evening, rinse your mouth after meals.
Enough time: at least 2 minutes at a time.
The method should be correct: the current recommended scientific brushing method is the Pap modified brushing method (horizontal flutter brushing method).
How does it work? Take a look at this GIF:
(Specific operation: place the toothbrush near the edge of the gum, the tip of the hair bundle towards the gums, at a 45-degree angle to the long axis of the tooth;
Gently press the bristles toward the edge of the gums, allowing them to enter the gap between the teeth and the gums, flutter horizontally for a short distance, and then brush up and down along the gap between the teeth. )
Brushing on the inside of the upper and lower front teeth:
2. Brush your teeth and brush your tongue! Brushing off the tongue has been found to remove 75 percent of the volatile vulcanization complexes [6]. Although the bacteria may come back, but can help maintain oral health, you can use a soft-bristled toothbrush to gently brush, from the inside out to bring the "tongue moss" before and after.
3. Please floss carefully clean food scraps and plaque.
4. Drink enough water to keep your mouth moist. Drinking water helps the salivary glands to secrete more saliva, and drinking water has a rinsing effect on the mouth.
Many people said that it was inconvenient to drink water wearing a mask, so they were too lazy to drink water. In fact, you can drink it with a straw.
5. Diet control. It is best to eat less irritating, strong smell (such as garlic, leeks, stinky tofu, etc.), indigestible, greasy food and bacon products.
When wearing a mask and wanting to breathe fresh air, the following 3 points are very useful:
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
Replace masks in a timely manner. Pay attention to the hygiene of the mask, the general surgical mask is recommended to be replaced once every 4 hours; the medical protective mask is recommended to be replaced once every 6 to 8 hours; the N95 mask is more stuffy to wear, and it is recommended that the use time cannot exceed 4 hours at a time.
According to the recommendations of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, masks can be reused according to the use of the mask (in non-infected areas, the use of the time is not long, the mask can be reused no more than 5 times), when not in use, placed in a ventilated, pollution-free place to dry [7], so as to protect their oral health under the premise of effective prevention of the virus.
Chew xylitol gum before wearing a mask so that you can mask some of the stench.
Rinse your mouth after a meal. Rinse your mouth with warm water immediately after eating, which can remove debris in time and reduce the number of bacteria. Some people also like to use mouthwash, but remember, mouthwash is only a temporary relief of bad breath, can not replace brushing and floss, and can not be used for a long time, because the bacteriostatic ingredients inside have the risk of destroying the bacteria in the mouth.
Finally, Tencent Medical Code wishes you a fresh breath and a sweet breath when you wear a mask!
Review expert: Xu Tongkai | Attending physician, Department II, Peking University Stomatological Hospital
bibliography
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[2] Liu, X. N., Shinada, K., Chen, X. C., Zhang, B. X., Yaegaki, K., & Kawaguchi, Y. (2006). Oral malodor‐related parameters in the Chinese general population. Journal of clinical periodontology, 33(1), 31-36.
[3] Scully C,Greenman J.Halitology (breath odour: aetiopathogenesis and management)[J]. Oral Dis,2012,18(4):333-345.
[4] Continuing Fanxing,Li Xiaoyu,Liu He,Jin Liji,Xu Yongping. Research Progress on the Causes and Treatment of Oral Bad Breath[J]. Advances in Modern Biomedicine,2011,11(04):791-794.]
Zhang Yu,Chen Xi,Feng Xiping. Relationship between bad breath and Helicobacter pylori infection: A case-control study[J]. Journal of Stomatology,2016,36(07):607-611.
[6] Cicek Y, O rbak R, Tezel A etal. Effect of tongue brushing on oral malodor in adolescents. Pediatr Int [J]. 2003; 45 (6): 719-23.
[7] Questions and Answers Regarding Respiratory Protection for Preventing 2009 H1N1 Influenza Among Healthcare Personnel
https://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/guidelines_infection_control_qa.htm
[8] Rosenberg M. The science of bad breath[J]. Scientific American, 2002, 286(4): 72-79.
[9] Yaegaki K, Coil J M, Kamemizu T, et al. Tongue brushing and mouth rinsing as basic treatment measures for halitosis[J]. International dental journal, 2002, 52(S5P1): 192-196.
*The content of this article is a popularization of health knowledge and cannot be used as a specific diagnosis and treatment recommendation, nor is it a substitute for face-to-face consultation by a practicing physician, for reference only.
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