9 Ways to Prevent Bad Breath

Everyone wants the confidence that comes from continuously minty fresh breath. Unfortunately, your family dentist in Longmont knows that many of our patients struggle with persistent bad breath that can cause them to feel self-conscious in certain personal and professional situations.

Fortunately, busting bad breath is fairly easy. With just a little prevention and by avoiding some pungent foods, you can enjoy better smelling breath.

Here are nine ways you can avoid bad breath and feel better about your oral health.

Brush and Floss More Frequently

Plaque – the sticky, yellowish substance that builds up on the surface of your teeth – collects foul smelling bacteria that causes bad breath. Food that becomes trapped between your teeth and along the gum line also contributes to the problem.

By brushing your teeth at least twice a day – and flossing daily – you can remove these foul smelling substances from your mouth. If you suffer from persistent bad breath, you can try brushing and flossing more frequently to eliminate any odors.

Rinse Your Mouth Out

In addition to helping freshen your breath, a mouthwash adds another layer of protecting against harmful oral bacteria. A minty fresh taste can also simply make you feel more confident about how your breath smells as well.

Just make sure you use an alcohol-free brand of mouthwash. While alcohol is known for killing germs, it can also contribute to developing dry mouth, a condition that could cause even more trouble than bad breath.

If you don’t have mouthwash handy or have time to brush after lunch, rinsing with water following your meal can help remove any lingering food particles that could start to decay and stink throughout the afternoon.

Scrape Your Tongue

Your tongue could be a breeding ground for foul smelling bacteria. If your tongue has a whitish appearance, odds are it’s covered in bacteria that could be contributing to bad breath. To rid your tongue of these bacteria, gently brush your tongue with your toothbrush.

If your toothbrush is too large to comfortably scrub the back of your tongue, you may want to consider using a tongue scrapper. These handy oral health tools are designed to apply even pressure across the surface area of your tongue.

A few swipes will remove food debris, bacteria, and dead cells that brushing alone won’t adequately remove.

Avoid Foul Smelling Foods

Garlic and onions are two of the biggest offenders when it comes to souring your breath.

These substances that cause bad smells make their way into your bloodstream and travel to the lungs, where you proceed to breathe them out. While you can use a mouthwash to mask the smell, the odor these types of foods create won’t go away until your body has fully processed them out of your system.

If you have a big meeting or an important dinner date, you may want to consider what you order to eat if you’re worried about what effect it will have on your breath.

Stop Smoking

Smoking is by far the worst habit for your oral health. In addition to increasing your risk of gum disease, tooth loss, and oral cancer, smoking also contributes to chronic bad breath.

If protecting your long-term health wasn’t a big enough motivating factor when it comes to quitting smoking, perhaps the promise of better smelling breath will give you enough incentive to quit.

Skip the Mints and Chew Gum Instead

The oral bacteria in your mouth simply loves sugar. They use it to create a harmful acid that can wear down tooth enamel and cause bad breath. So instead of popping a sugary minty after a meal, trying chewing on a piece of sugar-free gum instead.

Chewing gum helps to stimulate saliva flow in the mouth, which acts as the mouth’s natural defense against the plaque acids that cause decay and bad breath.

Keep Your Gums Healthy

Gum disease causes bad breath. Bacteria collects in pockets along the gum line caused by the disease, which creates an odor.

If you suffer from gum disease, your family dentist in Longmont can help you treat and prevent the development of the disease again in the future.

Prevent Dry Mouth

Dry mouth is a condition that causes the mouth to produce less saliva than require to adequately protect your oral health. Dry mouth can have a variety of causes that range from the prescription medications you take to an underlying oral health problem.

If you frequently feel parched, try drinking more water, chewing sugarless gum, or sucking on sugar-free candy. If these tricks don’t help improve your dry mouth, you should schedule an appointment with Dr. Toth and our team at Twin Peaks Dental.

Schedule Regular Dental Appointments with Your Family Dentist in Longmont

Regular dental care from Dr. Toth can help to identify and treat the causes of bad breath while also protecting your overall oral health.

Regular dental care plays an important role in preventing gum disease, tooth loss, and dental disease. Studies have also found that individuals with poor oral health have a greater risk of developing a range of chronic health conditions that include heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.

So not only could visiting Dr. Toth help improve the state of your breath, it could also help improve your overall health now and into the future.