WHAT IS BAD BREATH
Bad Breath is a simple metabolic equation. Bacteria that already live in the mouth and throat colonise in coatings that build up daily on the tongue, teeth, gums and mucous at the back of the throat. If a coating is more than twelve hours old then the bacteria are able to break down the proteins contained in the coatings. The waste product of this bacterial breakdown is sulphur. The sulphur presents as three volatile gases that can smell as either rotten eggs, faeces, or cabbage and gasoline. Below is a table that shows the different smells of Bad Breath.
What Causes Bad Breath
Simply put anything that either disrupts the sensitive bacterial balance of the mouth, or anything that increases proteins in the mouth, will be a factor in bad breath. For most of us, bad breath is really just part of life. In fact bad breath is very similar to sweating. When we exercise we sweat and this sweat smells. But showering removes the sweat and our natural bacteria then return us to our normal scents. Well bad breath is the same. If you have a protein lunch a such as that ham and cheese sandwich washed down by coffee with milk and sugar, and maybe add a cigarette or a glass of wine to the equation, then you will have bad breath within two hours. However for most of us, simply cleaning our mouth will revert us back to normal. Unfortunately for a small percentage of us whose mouths are out of bacterial balance, the cleaning has little affect. It is these people who are chronic bad breath sufferers and need the help of BreezeCare UK Breath Clinics. But what throws our mouths out of that sensitive bacterial balance?
Proteins
The three main protein sources for bacteria are dairy, nasal mucous and bleeding gums. Dairy causes a double problem as not only is it a protein source for bad breath bacteria but also it thickens nasal mucous making it harder to clear away from the back of the throat. Of all the dairy products, cheese is the worst offender followed closely by milk. Milk tend to increase the rotten egg gas smell due to the amino acid Cysteine that it contains. Cheese tends to increase the faeces and gasoline smell due to the Methionine contained within. BreezeCare UK Breath Clinics recommends that you replace your dairy intake with Rice Milk usually available from the Supermarket. This milk is a carbohydrate source so it will not stimulate the bad breath bacteria. However to treat Bad Breath you should forgo all cheese from now on. Milk and Cheese products can easily read above the threshold on our Halicheck Chromograph which means that people will smell these by products almost instantly after consumption.
Nasal mucous should be cleaned away every day. This is important as mucous that becomes stagnant or remains in the nasal passages for more than 24 hours will become a food source for bad breath bacteria. Also stagnant mucous can stop the tiny hairs (cilia) of the nasal passage from being able to do their cleaning action. BreezeCare UK Breath Clinics recommend Sinoclear Hypertonic Saline Nasal Spray to remove any mucous buildup, as Sinoclear is preservative free and contains natural sea salt. Dr Speiser recommends that you spray the nasal wash both morning and night. Think of it as a hygiene cleaning for your throat. You should include this nasal wash when you order our KForce Treatment Program. When using Sinoclear Nasal Sprays, always read the label and use as directed. If symptoms persist, then consult your healthcare professional.
Blood from bleeding gums, is not only a food source but also a sign of periodontal disease. This means that the pocket between the tooth and the gum has become infected with a particular harmful type of bacteria that sets up a whole chain of events. The bacteria release toxins that stimulate the body's defence reaction. This reaction causes an inflammation of the gums and increased bleeding. Also the reaction can cause erosion of the bony support around the teeth, which in turn increases the pocket size, allowing more bad bacteria to enter the site. Periodontal bacteria are particularly hardy and difficult to remove. Only a thorough cleaning by a dentist can rid you of these bacteria. People that have periodontal problems usually read higher in Methyl Mercaptan or fecal breath. A concentration of 26 parts per billion Methyl Mercaptan is sufficient to cause fecal bad breath. Our Dental Experts are highly trained in diagnosing periodontal conditions and successfully treating them. If you have any sort of faeces smell, then we advise that you definitely seek the clinic appointment. You still can start on our KForce Treatment System whilst you wait for your appointment, as the Treatment will help in the meantime to reduce the volume of bacteria contained on the tongue and around the gums.
Dry Mouth
Dry Mouth is a common trigger for bad breath as it directly increases the volume of bad breath bacteria. Dry mouth can increase mouth acid and also deprive the mouth of oxygen. This in turn will degrade the quality of saliva you produce and then finally cause an increase of the anaerobic bacteria that cause the halitosis problem. Oxygen deprivation could also be one of the reasons that halitosis patients have a low concentration of S.salivarius (an aerobic bacteria that is predominate in the mouths of people with fresh breath and has been shown to buffer bad breath). Dry mouth is a very complex issue and can be caused by factors such as alcohol or ethanol based mouthwash, most prescription medicines, many "over the counter" medicines, binge dieting, fad dieting (Atkins diet), binge eating, infrequent eating, smoking, consumption of diet drinks (contain acid), consumption of processed fruit juice or soft drinks (contain sugar). Dr Speiser has clinically shown that chewing two pieces of Recaldent Xylitol Gum after eating will stimulate saliva flow and help to neutralise the dry mouth. Recaldent is a discovery from Professor Eric Reynolds at Melbourne University in Australia. Recaldent is available from this website and is an option in our treatment kit.
Stress has a lot to do with bad breath. When you are undergoing “Stress”, it is part of your parasympathetic nervous system, of which you have no control (such as breathing or your heart beat). The fact is that when you are under stress – your mouth gets dry, and your breath gets worse. It’s sort of like when you are sitting in a large lecture hall, and out of nowhere, you are asked to speak to the crowd…your mouth starts to get dry…. and you are unable to speak because you have little or no saliva. This can lead to bad breath instantly. Of course we cannot avoid stress easily, especially if our personality is prone to stress or our job is a stressful one. What becomes essential is that our mouth should be as free of the bad breath bacteria as possible, so that when a stressful event happens we will have less of a problem. Again BreezeCare UK Breath Clinics recommend the Recaldent range of products to help overcome Dry Mouth.
Acid Mouth
Acid is the final problem. In a very acid environment only certain hardy bacteria can survive. Unfortunately these bacteria are the same ones that cause dental decay and bad breath. So continual high acid will change the bacterial makeup of your mouth. The good bacteria will be killed off and overrun by the bad breath bacteria that cause smells and gum disease. Our saliva plays an important role in preventing this occurrence. It does this by buffering acid mouth back to neutral within 5 minutes of an acid attack. But poor quality saliva will not buffer the acid successfully and thus the problem begins. BreezeCare Breath Clinics have a simple test to check the acid levels of your saliva, and this is done during the appointment at our clinic. However avoiding snacking on foods and chewing the Recaldent Xylitol gum after meals for 10 minutes, will help tremendously in stopping acid attack on your mouth.
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