Caring for Your Oral Health: Understanding Halitosis & What to Do About It

In the United States, about 50 to 80 million people are suffering from halitosis. In non-developed countries and most parts of Asia, the incidence of people having halitosis can be as high as 50 to 60% of the population.


What is Halitosis?


So what exactly is halitosis? This is the medical term for bad breath, which has a variety of causes. Before delving deeper into the numerous reasons why people have halitosis, let us learn more about the term first. As you may already know, someone who has halitosis or bad breath (or Dårlig Ånde in Danish) emits an unpleasant odor which is exhaled in breathing. The smell can come directly from the mouth, or in some cases, it can be from the air exhaled through the nose.

The unpleasant odor emitted by people with halitosis can strike periodically, or it can become a chronic condition depending on the root cause. Let's take the proverbial morning mouth or morning breath as an example. Despite having brushed your teeth the previous night, your mouth would usually emit an unpleasant odor after getting several hours of sleep.

This is because the saliva which regularly washes away the food and odors from your mouth diminishes when you're asleep. As a result, your mouth becomes dry and when this combines with the bacteria and dead cells which adhere to your tongue or the inside of your cheeks – a foul morning breath is produced.

But what if you still have bad breath (or Dårlig Ånde in Danish) during the day? This might be a result of halitosis which comes from a number of reasons. The number one culprit is poor oral hygiene. People who do not brush and floss their teeth regularly are more prone to developing halitosis as compared to those who have excellent oral hygiene . The particles which combine with your saliva and the bacteria in your mouth is what causes bad breath to occur.

In relation, 85% of halitosis cases come from individuals having dental problems or infections in the mouth. Periodontal or gum disease, cavities in the mouth and other dental problems may lead to your having halitosis.

Having the dry mouth syndrome or Xerostomia is yet another reason why you may have halitosis. For this, the mouth does not produce sufficient saliva which regularly washes away food and expel away the compounds which result to bad breath. So if your mouth does not produce enough saliva, you will have halitosis.

Finally, there are certain medical conditions which cause halitosis such as diabetes, liver disease, kidney or lung disease, reflux disease and sinus disease.




What to Do about Halitosis


The treatment of halitosis will depend on what its root cause is. In most cases, a simple solution of improving your oral hygiene will already remedy the situation. If the problem is caused by dental conditions, a visit to the dentist will treat the halitosis as well. If the halitosis is a symptom of an underlying medical condition, you might need to consult your doctor on what needs to be done about it.

All in all, halitosis is an embarrassing condition which might have effects to your social life and self-confidence. Getting the right treatment is the key if you don't want to live with halitosis or bad breath.