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How Does Bad Breath
Get Cured?
There are many reasons for bad breath and they are not only
related to oral hygiene. And everyone has problems at one time or
another with bad breath. This is because everyone has a natural
occurrence of biofilm that forms on the tongue. Biofilm contains
anaerobic bacteria (bacteria that does not need oxygen to grow)
which breaks down proteins in the mouth. The byproduct of this
process produces the offensive smell because of the gases
containing skatol and hydrogen sulphide.
In most people, bad breath occurs early in the morning. This is
why good oral hygiene first thing in the morning is so crucial to
controlling bad breath. However bad breath has many more causes
than just poor oral hygiene. The person could be suffering from
some internal disease or mouth lesion that can cause bad breath.
In these cases, a person should be diagnosed so that the disease
can be treated and not just the symptom of bad breath.
While there are many causes to bad breath, poor oral hygiene is
probably the most frequently-occurring cause. Keeping the mouth
clean reduces bacterial activity. One thing that helps when you
cannot brush right away after eating food is to gargle with
lukewarm water. It is especially important to do this after eating
sugary snacks. And you should brush your teeth twice each day—once
in the morning and once at night.
The technique of brushing is probably more important than the act
of brushing. Many are unaware that when they brush vigorously that
it can damage the gums because of the abrasiveness. Some might
think that they should brush after everything they eat or drink
but this can be damaging to enamel as well. The hardness of the
toothbrush bristles is important too. They should be hard enough
to get to and remove any food particles lodged in the gaps of the
teeth yet smooth so as not to be too abrasive. Brushing direction
is important too and should be done in a downward direction from
the upper teeth and upward from the lower teeth. Remember to get
both the inner and outer surfaces of the teeth. Use a posterior
and anterior direction when brushing the crown of the upper and
lower teeth.
Sometimes the tongue can form a yellowish or white coating and
this too will cause bad breath. Tongue cleaner or just lightly
brushing the tongue can remove this. Be careful to be gentle when
cleaning or brushing the tongue because taste buds can get
damaged.
There are small sticks made of plastic or wood with points at the
end known as toothpicks. These are useful for removing food debris
caught between the gaps in the teeth. Food getting caught in the
gaps occurs quite often when eating fish or meat. Here again, use
these gently in order to prevent gum damage.
There are various brands of mouthwash available that are
anti-bacterial and great for gargling in order to reduce bad
breath. If you don’t have mouthwash, you can gargle with lukewarm
water as mentioned previously. To make gargling with lukewarm
water even more effective, you can also dissolve some salt in it.
Since bacteria working on protein are a cause for bad breath, it
only stands to reason that foods high in protein will cause foul
odors if particles are left lodged in the mouth. This means that
foods like fish, milk, meat, and eggs will create optimum
conditions for bad breath if their particles are left lodged in
the mouth. And there are also foods like raw onion, fried foods,
and nuts that will produce bad breath. The latter are not protein
foods. So if you want to help yourself avoid bad breath during the
day, don’t eat foods that you know will increase your chances of
having bad breath.
When your mouth gets dry, you are susceptible to developing bad
breath. This is because bacteria like the dry mouth environment.
Saliva keeps the mouth moist and counteracts the dryness. For this
reason, one should keep their water intake at a healthy level so
as to produce sufficient saliva.
There are also mouth fresheners sold that can help with bad breath
problems. Mouth fresheners can either be artificial or natural.
They are commonly made from spices like cumin, clove, cardamom,
ginger, cinnamon, and seed. Bad breath can also be reduced by
eating citrus fruits. Go to the grocery store and you will see
that most of the chewing gum is flavored with these same
substances. Be careful with gum however. Too much chewing can be
hard on the teeth.
You might do all the above and still suffer from bad breath. This
means you may have a deeper-rooted cause and you will have to get
it diagnosed and removed if possible. Bad breath can be the
symptom of other diseases or illnesses such as fevers, gastric
problems, liver disease, and diabetes. Medicines can help if the
bad breath is caused by some infection. In this case, anti-fungal,
anti-viral, and antibiotic medications might be prescribed. Other
medicines used are steroids in the case of chronic inflammatory or
autoimmune situations. Another medication is the tablet that helps
to produce saliva.
Certain dental tarter and plaque cannot be removed by just regular
brushing and require a yearly dental cleaning by your dentist.
Your dentist can also fill any dental caries that also are
responsible for bad breath. Filling dental caries requires filling
the cavity with synthetic materials today whereas once this was
accomplished with silver amalgam. And sometimes the pulp gets
infected because of the caries which will cause bad breath and
require a root canal. Sometimes the caries get so deep that the
tooth needs to be extracted and a dental implant placed in the gap
left.
A tonsillectomy to remove the tonsils may be required for those
who suffer from tonsillitis frequently. Tonsillitis produces bad
breath because of the thick discharge from the tonsils.
Patients who are suffering from depression may have bad breath for
a number of reasons. For starters, these patients tend to not take
care of themselves due to the depression. Another reason is that
depressed patients tend to suffer from somatization disorder which
is a disorder where patients suffer real symptoms without any real
physical cause. It still does not cancel the need for these
patients with somatization disorder to get a proper diagnosis. And
psychological counseling may be necessary to help the patient get
over chronic depression. Some patients get depressed about their
bad breath and a cycle of starts where the depression causes their
bad breath and their bad breath causes their depression. These
patients’ fears should be eased during counseling by reassuring
them that everyone suffers from bad breath at one time or another.
And finally, another cure for bad breath is homoeopathy. This is
where the emotional, mental, and social characteristics of a
person are analyzed and homoeopathic medicines are selected based
on the findings. Studying the whole person yields information as
to just what homeopathic medicine to give along with the required
dosage. And there are homeopathic drugs used for bad breath—140 of
them. Among these homeopathic drugs are pulsatilla, sulfur, kali
bich, merc sol, ars alb, nux vomica, antim crud, and hekla lava.
There are also homeopathic agents used in gargling when mixed with
water like cinnamon, zingiber Q, and menthol Q.
Original Article
Source:
http://www.medicalneeds.com |
