Bad breath: common causes, symptoms and how to avoid it

Surely we have ever had bad breath and we have not noticed it... but someone else does. Every day we talk to different people with whom we have more or less confidence, but few are those who would reveal to us if we suffer from bad breath.

It is very embarrassing that the people around us may think that our breath smells bad. Not to mention if we intend to kiss someone. Therefore, in today's article we are going to address this issue to avoid it once and for all. Let's see why bad breath appears and how to avoid it.

The causes of bad breath

Sometimes bad breath is due to having eaten something on time, like aioli, and everyone takes care of the situation and more if they have eaten with you. But when your halitosis invades the air that another person breathes, and this is not the reason, it is all somewhat uncomfortable.

But let's not make a drama out of this. It is nothing serious, and the grace is that it can be avoided. That is why below we show the different causes that cause bad breath. Knowing the reason for its appearance, we can anticipate and make our mouth smell like any healthy mouth.

1. Foods that affect our breath

That there are foods that give us bad breath after eating them will not catch anyone by surprise. What will be a novelty is to find some that we did not expect in the following list. Let's review it.

1.1. Garlic and onion

Garlic and onion have sulfur-containing compounds, and this in many cases gives rise to a bad smell (smell of feet, smell of rotten eggs,... there are many unpleasant odors that come from sulfur compounds)

When we ingest and absorb the sulfur components of garlic and onion, our body eliminates them in the form of gases through the lungs, leading to bad breath.

1.2. Dairy products

Dairy products contain different amino acids, and some of them are easily fermentable by our oral bacteria.

For little food residue that remains in our mouth, some bacteria can break down these amino acids and transform them into substances such as cadaverine or putrescine.

1.3. Simple carbohydrates

If we eat foods that contain a lot of sugars, we can also suffer from bad breath. Many bacteria that live in our mouth can ferment these sugars, which can also give us problems in the intestine.

The fact that they are easily fermentable means that they can also ferment in the intestine, being able to cause undesirable gases not only in the mouth; cause gastrointestinal disturbances.

1.4. Canned fish

Canned fish is a food that has fatty acids, which continue to break down once the fish is canned.

Eating canned tuna or sardines is not a great idea if we have to talk around someone, although it would not be one of the worst cases on the list.

2. Dental plaque

A multitude of microorganisms live in our mouth. In conditions of good health and hygiene, these microscopic beings do not have to cause us problems, but if we have dental plaque accumulation, things are different.

Dental plaque is associated with remains of saliva, food, blood and, in general, decomposing cells. There processes of bacterial putrefaction take place, so the fact that there is a bad smell that comes out of there should not surprise us.

3. Alcohol

If we consume alcohol often, the bad smell can take over our mouth. The smell of alcohol in itself is unpleasant, but this substance also causes dehydration.

When a mouth is dehydrated, all the problems mentioned above can be aggravated. This happens because different compounds derived from bacterial activity are volatilized.

4. Tobacco

Tobacco is a more unpleasant smell, if possible, than tobacco. Also, together they combine; tobacco enhances the smell of alcohol. In any case, it is better not to smell tobacco if we want to be close to someone in an intimate way, especially if this person does not smoke.

5. Specific diseases

There are some diseases that cause bad breath, although they are few. To highlight, diabetes, chronic kidney failure and different liver diseases. For example, cirrhosis of the liver causes bad breath, and it is caused by a compound derived from sulfur, hydrogen sulfide.

6. Medication

It is not frequent, but there are some medications that make you emit some kind of bad smell. We highlight the drugs that contain sulfur compounds in their composition, which we have already discussed previously.

7. Menstruation

Without leaving these compounds, it is necessary to comment that there are women who during the menstrual cycle emanate more amounts of sulfur compounds than normal. Although higher concentrations than the usual levels occur, there is no health concern and they generally disappear permanently after a few days.

8. Inadequate oral hygiene

We wanted to leave this section for the last place, because for some it may seem the most obvious, but perhaps it should not be exactly like that.

There is evidence that hunter and gatherer populations do not have halitosis despite not being very familiar with oral hygiene. It seems like, our diet and lifestyle have been incorporating novelties that have an impact on bad breath (intake of refined sugars, high number of intakes per day, dairy products, alcohol, tobacco, etc.)

Therefore, the Western lifestyle leads us practically obliged to meet minimums; we have to brush our teeth three times a day and visit the dentist once a year.

Bibliographic references

• Harvey-Woodworth, C.N. (2013). Dimethylsulphidemia: the significance of dimethyl sulphide in extra-oral, blood borne halitosis. British dental journal. 214 (7), E20.
• Kapoor, U., Sharma, G., Juneja, M. and Nagpal, A. (2016). Halitosis: Current concepts on etiology, diagnosis and management. European journal of dentistry, 10, (2), 292–300.
• Rosenberg, M. (2002). The science of bad breath. Sci Am, 286 (4), 72–79.