Say Goodbye To Bad Breath!
Last week I told you I would give you eight easy tips that can help sweeten your mouth for good. Please keep in mind that most of the time bad breath is caused by problems in the mouth. Quite often, a simple trip to your dental hygienist will help solve the problem.
However…… if seeing a professional is not an option here are a few suggestions:
(Please note: These are only suggestions and do not always guarantee success).
- At all times, maintain a high level of oral hygiene. In addition to brushing twice a day, you must clean in between your teeth using dental floss, toothpicks, rubber tips or inter-dental brushes as recommended by your dental hygienist. Here at Woodland Dental Hygiene, I can show you the proper way to use these.
- Use a tongue cleaner and clean right to the back of the tongue.
- Use of mouthwash that does not contain alcohol or dyes and before bed is recommended as opposed to the morning.
- Drink plenty of fluids, avoiding too much coffee and alcohol.
- Clean your mouth after eating dairy products, fish and meat.
- Chew sugar-free Xylitol gum to promote saliva especially if your mouth feels dry. When choosing a gum look for cinnamon-flavored as recent studies suggest that an ingredient in the flavoring can actually decrease the bacteria in your mouth.
- Eat fresh food and fibrous vegetables.
- Visit your dental hygienist regularly and have your teeth professionally cleaned as required.
If the odor still persists you may have a chronic dental infection such as decay or even periodontal disease which ultimately needs to be treated by a dentist.
However, if this is not the cause, on rare occasions bad breath may be an indication of a more serious health issue including infections elsewhere in the body, kidney or liver failure and even diabetes.
You should definitely consider seeing your physician to rule out any of these underlying problems.
Remember Dental Hygienists are your Preventive Oral Health Care Professionals and can help elaborate or clarify any questions you may have about the information I have presented here today.
Please keep your eyes open for newspaper ads beginning this week promoting dental hygienists and our unique scope of practice.
Next week I will be discussing the six-month check-up, where it originated and why it is no longer the standard in scheduling your dental appointments.
In the meantime, I’d love to get your comments. What do you do to keep your breath smelling sweet? Even sweeter; check out commentluv on my blogsite. When you leave a comment, you can leave a link back to your own blog! I look forward to hearing from you.
Kathleen
Very interesting – always spread your message. Looking forward to an update. For too long now have I had the need to get started on my personal blog. Guess if I put it off any more I will never take action. I’ll make sure to include you in my Blogroll. Many thanks!!
Hi Saundra,
There are a lot of valuable and simple things that you can do once you know what you are looking for. Thanks for the encouragement and may I offer the same to get you going on yours!