How to Prevent Bad Breath

Bad breath can be very disturbing. It affects people’s self-esteem, and secondarily their performance. The good news is that it can be prevented. Bad breath can be temporary, or a persistent daily happening. To prevent bad breath, you must know the causes and sources of the bad breath. The source could be local or systemic.

The following tips will be helpful when you want to prevent bad breath:

1.  Always ensure that you have a clean tongue. The small projections on the tongue can harbor a lot of food and bacteria that cause bad breath.

2. Brush your teeth twice daily. Ensure that you brush up to the last molars’ back surfaces.  Food left on the tooth surfaces decomposes within a short period of time to cause bad breath.

3. As you brush your teeth, ensure that you gargle water, or a mouthwash, to clean the areas that are close to the throat. Sometimes they are the culprits causing bad breath.

4. Have your gums checked by a dentist every six months to rule out any gum diseases that could present with bad breath.

5. Have the cavities on your teeth filled so that the dead tissues that cause bad breath are removed. The better option, of course, would be to avoid developing cavities altogether.

6. When you have a denture/s or a bridge, keep them impeccably clean, since plaque can accumulate on their surfaces and result in bad breath.

7. Avoid taking certain foods which are known to cause bad breath. These include onions and garlic.

8. Smoking and alcohol use are known to result in a smokers’ breath, and alcohol-like breath. Cut on your smoking or alcohol to prevent this.

Since our mouths are parts of our whole bodies, a problem in other parts of the body could be expressed through the mouth. Therefore, always have regular medical check-ups so that any of the following systemic diseases are ruled out; diabetes, kidney disease, lung and alveolar infections.

Apart from brushing your teeth, you can use a sugar free chewing gum after every meal to help in cleaning your teeth. This is helpful especially when you are somewhere you cannot access your toothbrush. As well as the beneficial effect of the aroma of the gum, the chewing process increases salivation which washes off the food. Chewing gums and breath-freshening mints are also used to prevent bad breath temporarily. However, it is important to remember that the best way to prevent bad breath is meticulous care of both the mouth and our general health.
Contact a dentist or dental hygienist at Water Brook Dental in Washington DC for a dental check-up and other dental needs. Water Brook Dental has two locations in Washington DC. The Columbia Heights location is very  conveniently located to Downtown DC, Northeast DC, Adams Morgan, Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, U-Street Corridor, Mount Pleasant and many other parts of Washington. The Eastern Ave NW location is conveniently located to Downtown Silver Spring, Takoma Park MD, Silver Spring MD, Colesville, and other parts of Maryland as well as Northern Virginia and other parts of Virginia.