This may sound like a “no brainer” because you may think that bad breath is obvious to the person who has bad breath. That is not necessarily the case.

Often times, the person with halitosis is the LAST one to know there is a problem. You may have cupped your hands and blown into them to try and determine if your breath smells, but that does not work because your body will naturally acclimatize to its own odor. This is necessary so that the sensory system will recognize odors that are external to the body.

If this is the case, then you need to look at external symptoms:

• Do you experience nasal drip?
• Do you have allergies?
• Do you have a chronic dry mouth?
• Do you experience a sour taste in your mouth?
• Do you have a coating on your tongue?
• Do your friends offer you gum or breath mints?
• Do strangers turn their heads away when you speak?

These may sound like very basic questions, but if you answered yes to any of them there is a good chance that you have a problem with bad breath. If you answered any of them with “I don’t know,” you need to become proactive and observe if any of the conditions apply to your situation.

Pharyngitis.

This is an inflammation in the area at the back of the mouth known as the Pharynx as usually occurs because of a virus.

This is the same area where you begin to feel a slight “scratchiness” at the onset of a cold or flu. The bacteria involved can lead to more serious streptococcus, commonly known as “strep throat.” If it progresses it can be highly contagious and because it is bacterial it will produce bad breath.

Poor dental hygiene.

We have discussed some of the leading causes of bad breath, but nothing matches poor dental hygiene as a leading cause of bad breath.

Lack of brushing, flossing and regular checkups are the most important weapon for ridding oneself of bad breath and preventing more serious conditions from developing.

Sinusitis.

This is an inflammation of the sinuses, with or without pus and can carry along with it not only bad breath but a terrible taste in the mouth.

Tobacco smoking.

Tobacco smoking encourages growth of bacteria by drying the mouth. As we discussed previously, dry mouth is one of the leading causes of bad breath.

It’s hard to believe that in a 2002 poll of 1,000 Americans over the age of 35, it was determined that 60% of adults polled knew little or nothing about gum disease! A tragedy when you consider that gum disease is the leading factor in tooth loss, even healthy teeth, as well as being a major cause of bad breath and halitosis.

Your teeth can appear to be healthy and disease free, when under the surface gum disease can stalwartly march on creating a condition that will ultimately lead to serious tooth loss. Bad breath is a “red flag” to help determine if this problem is prevalent in your mouth.

Healthy gum tissue forms a shallow groove at the point where the tooth meets the gum line. This disease occurs when the anaerobic, sulfur producing bacteria we discussed earlier, become trapped beneath the gum line.

This is a perfect breeding ground for the bacteria and they will settle in and take residence. Not recognizing and dealing with the problem will result in serious dental problems up to and including loss of teeth and even underlying bone disease.

If you are diagnosed with serious periodontal disease, work to save your teeth needs to begin as soon as possible.

The first step that your dentist will take is probably what is called “scaling and root planing.” This is a non-surgical procedure to remove the deposits of plaque on the surface of the tooth including the root. Since periodontal disease rarely occurs in just one tooth, this will probably need to be done to all your teeth.

The dentist will scrap the surfaces of the tooth below the gum line to remove all traces of plaque clear down to the bottom of the pocket. He will then smooth the surface of the root to encourage healthy gum tissue to heal. This process also discourages plaque from reforming.

Depending on how involved your case might be, the dentist may prescribe medication to assist in healing or control pain and potential infection.

More diagnostics are required before a prognosis of your case of periodontal disease can be given. Each deposit of plaque creates its own “pocket” and the dentist needs to measure the depth of the pockets that were scaled during your first visit.

Often, the scaling procedure works well to eliminate the problem and you are free from further treatment other than normal examinations. At this point you would be well served by employing a daily regimen of preventative maintenance to insure the disease does not return.

However, if the diseased pockets are deep and extending into actual bone, you may need to have surgery in order to keep the teeth. If this is the case, your dentist will refer you to a periodontist, a doctor who specializes in periodontal disease.

The periodontist will use a surgical process to aggressively penetrate the diseased areas and ferret out the plaque and bacteria. The pockets where plaque resides must be sealed off so the environment does not invite a return of the disease.

In some cases bone surgery or bone grafts may be necessary to rebuild bone that was destroyed by the periodontal disease. If there was substantial tissue damage grafts may need to be used to replace the soft tissue. This procedure involves removing gum tissue from your palate to cover the areas where severe gingivitis has penetrated too far into the gum line.

Your dentist or oral surgeon may also recommend further treatment and/or medications.

Next post, we’ll talk about a few more causes of bad breath…