Do You Have Bad Breath?

Most people with bad breath don’t even know they have it.  Even their family members get used to the odor and don’t notice it.  Friends and people they meet feel uncomfortable telling them.  So how do you know?

Sure, bad breath can come from foods we eat such as onions, peppers and garlic.  Chemicals from these foods get into our blood stream.  They travel from our bloodstream to our lungs, and we actually breathe out the odors from our lungs.  These odors can last up to 72 hours.

But still, that is not the sort of “knock-you-down” bad breath we’re talking about.  Most really bad breath comes from bacteria hiding in the mouth – and that’s not good.  That usually means a problem of tooth decay and/or gum disease – or infection.

Putrid smells from spoiled and rotting food are from the bacteria growing in the food.  The bacteria give off foul-smelling gasses.  If you have chronic bad breath, there’s probably more of a problem than simply odor.

There can be advanced tooth decay/cavities in teeth and even under old fillings or crowns.  There may be gum disease.  There might also be an infected tooth, where the infection is draining into the mouth.  These things happen so slowly, that often you just don’t even notice.

To learn more about the causes of bad breath and how to correct them, read Dr. Kurthy’s article in Oxygen Women’s Magazine on Bad Breath.