Wednesday, February 28, 2007

How to Fight Bad Breath

Halitosis commonly known as bad breath is a very embarrassing disease. Most people with bad breath are not aware of their problem but the people around them certainly know and just embarrass to tell them. The reaction of people around you when you speak or open your mouth will somehow give you a hint if you have a bad breath problem. However, there are tests for bad breath that you can do, one test is lick the back of your wrist and let it dry for a minute or two and then smell it. Another way is to scrape the back of your tongue with an inverted spoon and smell the thick whitish dried residue. How it smells is most likely the way your breath smells to others. If you have a bad breath it is important to know how to fight bad breath.

To know how to fight bad breath, first you have to know the causes of bad breath. Bad breath is caused by accumulation of bacteria in the mouth. There are more than 600 types of bacteria present in the mouth which has the tendency to overpopulate due to food debris and other factors like gum problems and tooth decay. Accumulation of anaerobic bacteria on the posterior of the tongue, gums and teeth when mixed with mouth air and exhaled create foul odor or bad breath. There are two types of bad breath namely transient and chronic bad breath. Transient bad breath is caused by poor mouth hygiene, oral dryness or by eating certain foods like onion and garlic. Transient bad breath usually disappears on its own or by improved oral hygiene. Chronic bad breath is more serious and caused by continuous accumulation of bacteria and needs specialized treatment. It is important to know how to fight bad breath even before it becomes chronic bad breath.

Learn how to fight bad breath before it becomes a social stigma or before it affects your relationship with people. Number one on how to fight bad breath is proper oral hygiene. Brush your teeth religiously every morning and after every meal including your tongue where bacteria are more likely to accumulate. Be careful with what you eat, there are foods that causes bad breath like onions and garlic. Drink a lot of water, proper hydration prevents bad breath and accumulation of bacteria. Have a dental check up every 6 months to avoid tooth decay.

Proper oral hygiene alone sometimes doesn’t work on people with chronic bad breath. If you happen to follow all the oral hygiene mentioned and after bad breath testing you believe that you still have a bad breath or someone told you that you do have a bad breath, you should act on this at once before it could affect your social life. Finding how to fight bad breath and get rid of bad breath for good is something you should not ignore. It’s better to act on this now than suffer the effects of bad breath in your life.

How to fight bad breath? Did you know that there are people who used to have bad breath and now totally cured their bad breath? You can get rid of bad breath almost overnight, even if everything you tried before failed miserably. Imagine having such fresh breath and so much self confidence that you’ll be able to speak just inches away from anyone’s face or kiss that special someone without worrying about bad breath.

Gerry Restrivera writes informative articles on various subjects including How to Fight Bad Breath.

Find out how to fight bad breath visit Great Discovery-Health and Beauty

Monday, November 27, 2006

Baby Bad Breath

Most babies have sweet smelling breath, but occasionally baby bad breath does occur. It can be a particular problem upon waking, after the baby has been asleep for a few hours - like morning breath in adults. During sleep, the mouth is typically relaxed and motionless, there is decreased saliva production, and bacteria that live in the mouth cavity have an opportunity to multiply undisturbed. Some of these bacteria can produce the unpleasant odor we associate with bad breath, and when they multiply to sufficient numbers, the odor becomes detectable.

If you think that "morning breath" is causing bad breath in baby, try treating it by cleansing the mouth before putting baby down for a nap. If baby is very young and has no teeth, encourage a water rinse to flush traces of formula or bits of food out of cracks and crevices. If baby has teeth, a gentle brushing and a rinse should help. Rinsing and brushing upon waking can be helpful too. (Fluoridated toothpastes should be used very sparingly in young children, and brushing should always be supervised even when your child is old enough to begin brushing on her own.) If these measures relieve the baby bad breath, you needn't do more.

However, if bad breath in baby persists after brushing and cleansing, there may be another problem. Does baby use a soother or habitually suck on some other object like a blanket or stuffed toy? An object that is continually put into the mouth gets coated with saliva and oral bacteria and can develop an unpleasant odor. Though the smell may not be offensive to your child, it can contribute to lingering bad odors in the vicinity of baby, and to baby bad breath. The simple solution is to wash or replace the offending item regularly. Eventually, your child will give up the sucking habit and the problem will disappear on its own.

Occasionally bad breath in baby has a more sinister cause. If your efforts to solve the problem are fruitless, you should consult your pediatrician or family doctor. The physician will check for signs of throat or sinus infection, infection somewhere in the mouth, tooth decay, or a foreign object lodged in a nasal passage. Sinus congestion can contribute to baby bad breath as well, by causing baby to breathe through the mouth: dry mouth is a cause of breath odor in both children and adults because saliva is naturally antibacterial and, in a healthy mouth, it keeps the population of odor causing bacteria at a minimum.

Once again, baby bad breath is relatively unusual: if simple measures don't solve the problem, your child should be seen by a medical professional to rule out more serious problems.
R. Drysdale is a freelance writer with more than 25 years experience as a health care professional. She is a contributing editor to Bad Breath Cure, a blog dedicated to the treatment of bad breath

Monday, November 20, 2006

When It Comes To Treating A Bad Breath Problem You Have Numerous Options

Bad breath is a problem that can affect anyone from time to time. It’s a very unattractive problem that can lead to a decrease in social standings. In this article, we’ll examine the problem posed by halitosis, work towards understanding the problem, and offer some solutions for solving the problem.
There are actually three different types of halitosis: they are known as transient bad breath, chronic bad breath and fetor hepaticus.
Transient bad breath occurs normally in most people, and is a temporary issue. It is most often caused by a dryness of the mouth, stress, a need to eat, odors left by certain foods, smoking, or not taking care of your dental health. This type of bad breath will disappear on its own eventually, but can be quickly aided by the presence of gum or a brushing of the teeth.
Chronic bad breath, on the other hand, is a problem that is faced by roughly twenty five percent of the population. Chronic bad breath can cause a person to feel stressed out and may make them have lower self esteem. Chronic bad breath may be caused by the presence of bacteria in the mouth. In particular, the bacterium known as streptococcus mutans is most often responsible for a case of chronic bad breath.
Fetor hepaticus is a severe form of bad breath that is actually caused by a failure of the liver. This type of bad breath is especially excruciating, and the smell that it causes can be extremely foul.
While our mouths are home to many different forms of bacteria, there is a type of bacteria known as anaerobic bacteria that can really be the cause of bad breath. This type of bacteria lives on the tongue and continues to grow, using the food that we eat and dead cells to multiply. These types of bacteria undergo anaerobic respiration, which causes them to release sulfur compounds that can cause bad breath. Other health problems such as periodontis, helminthiasis, diabetes, and gastroesophageal reflux disease may also be responsible for bad breath.
When it comes to treating a bad breath problem , you have numerous options. While some opt for the quick fix of mints or mouthwash, these solutions only provide a temporary means for getting rid of the bad breath. Also, you should be cautioned to avoid the use of alcohol-based mouthwashes to treat your bad breath; they dry out the mouth, and may cause more trouble than they are worth. It is of the utmost importance to ensure that you are not leaving particles of food in your mouth that allow for the bacteria to multiply.
To that end, you are recommended to brush after every meal and floss on a daily basis. You may also want to consider purchasing a tongue brush, a specialized device that can help to remove the bacteria present on the tongue.
Now that you know some of the basics of bad breath, you are better suited to fighting the problem. Cleanliness and dedication are paramount to keeping your bad breath problem under control.
If you want to read more about your bad breath click over to Christain's site at the-healthguide.com