Everyone gets bad breath after eating certain strong-smelling foods, but chronic bad breath can be something more serious. Your bad breath may be coming from an underlying issue that can’t be fixed with chewing gum or breath mints. While these things may temporarily mask the condition, they won’t eliminate the source. Our professional team treatment will work to detect and eliminate the source of bad breath.
If you are bothered by chronic bad breath (sometimes called “halitosis”) in Kuna, we can help. Please call (208) 922-1755 today for an appointment with a dentist at Deluxe Dental.
Tracking Down the Cause of Bad Breath
While things like “morning breath” or the breath you have after eating a tuna sandwich can easily be fixed by brushing your teeth or rinsing with mouthwash, sometimes chronic bad breath, also known as halitosis, can mean a more serious, underlying issue. If you have chronic bad breath, we can help detect the source. Once we understand where the issue is coming from, we can help determine what the best method is to eliminate it.
Some of the most common causes of halitosis include:
- Gum disease
- Infected tooth
- Mouth, nose or throat infections
- Dry mouth
- Smoking or tobacco use
Most of these causes share one thing in common: they encourage the growth of anaerobic oral bacteria. Oral bacteria can cause many problems, like cavities, gum disease, and infected teeth. Anaerobic bacteria are bacteria that use sulfur the way we use oxygen, and they excrete many smelly sulfur-based compounds. Oxygen is toxic to these bacteria, which like to grow in areas where it can’t reach them. When bacteria grow in large numbers, sulfur compounds build up in your mouth, and come out every time you breathe.
Treating Halitosis
One of the most effective ways to treat halitosis is a professional teeth cleaning. Often anaerobic bacteria shelter under tartar–hardened plaque–where you can’t reach them when you brush and floss. A professional cleaning will remove bacteria and provide a long-lasting sense of oral freshness.
Tongue scraping can also be helpful when bacteria is present on the patient’s tongue. Halitosis can also be a result of gum disease. Deluxe Dental offers periodontal treatments that are highly effective in eliminating odor caused by periodontitis. We encourage patients suffering from gum disease to seek treatment as quickly as possible since this condition will significantly worsen if it is allowed to spread.
And if bacteria infect the interior of your tooth, anaerobic bacteria will thrive there. Root canal therapy will clean them out and save your tooth.
Do You Want to Eliminate Bad Breath in Kuna?
To begin the process of finding the source of your halitosis, please give our dental office a call. You can reach us at (208) 922-1755 to schedule an appointment today.
