What causes bad breath
‘Morning breath’
Almost everyone has bad breath first thing in the morning. During the day, movement of the tongue and cheeks dislodges food debris and dead cells, and these are washed away by saliva. While we are asleep our tongue and cheeks do not move much, and the flow of saliva is reduced. The food residues stagnate in the mouth, and mouth bacteria rapidly break them down, releasing an unpleasant stale smell. Breathing through the mouth when sleeping tends to make this worse. Fortunately, morning breath normally disappears after breakfast, cleaning the teeth or rinsing the mouth with water. Get your saliva going with a drink of water and lemon.
Temporary bad breath
Persistent bad breath
Written by: Dr Margaret Stearn
Edited by: Dr Margaret Stearn
Last updated:
Friday, February 12th 2010
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Comments on this article
Posted by Anonymous on 19/06/2009 at 03:06:00 pm
When I open my mouth to speak some of my companions keep rubbing thier noses, to show their digust of the bad-breath smell, I think. Can this be taken seriously as evidence of having bad breath?
Posted by ola on 19/05/2009 at 01:03:00 am
boots used to have these mint tablets you could swallow, what are they called so I may order online?
Posted by someone on 07/04/2009 at 09:13:00 pm
my sister has bad breathe. shes had bad breathe for ages now. It might be bactaria on the back of the tongue, because im almost certain its nothing else but, then again, it might not be. is there any different colours shown on the tongue if it is? because her tongue is very yellow at the back. or is that normal? I want to find out the cause :S
What causes bad breath
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Fascinating facts
Many chemicals cause the smell in bad breath including hydrogen sulphide, methyl mercaptan and putrescine.
Garlic rubbed into the soles of the feet can be detected later in the breath
Women clean their teeth more often than men - 76% of women brush their teeth at least once a day, but only 58% of men do (British Dental Association)
Politicians, lawyers, judges and teachers have the worst breath - they talk a lot, so their mouths dry out (Professor M Rosenberg)
Shakespeare mentions breath smell - sweet or stinking - more than 100 times. In his day, most people had bad breath (Professor M Rosenberg)
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