Break away from bad breath
Bad breath has got to be one of the most miserable and isolating conditions to suffer from. Long-term bad breath sufferers find that it affects all their face-to-face dealings. It can make them feel self-conscious and liable to look grim-faced, when in fact they are just trying to keep their mouths shut because they don’t want to inflict their breath on the person they are talking to.
Most of the time, it is possible to cure bad breath, which can be the symptom of something easily sorted, or something more serious. Finding the cure for bad breath is a bit like fixing a computer: you start with the obvious stuff and work from there.
Getting to the bottom of it
If you come to us at Old Windsor, in Berkshire, oral health and bad breath are the first area we will want to check. It helps if you can arrive without having used breath fresheners of any sort. How your breath smells may give us clues as to what is going on.
Are you brushing and flossing properly? Are you getting food stuck between your teeth? Do you take care of your tongue? Have you got a heavy build-up of plaque and tartar? All of these things can affect the way your breath smells.
Once we have eliminated poor oral hygiene as a cause, we will want to be sure there is not something more serious lurking around. Bad breath can be caused by decay and infections
Another area, we will look at with you is diet. If you eat a lot of strong foods such as onions and garlic, which exit the body via the lungs. Smoking, of course, can give you bad breath, as can going on a diet.
All these culprits are easy to deal with, but if none of the above is causing your bad breath, then we have to start looking at whether it is a symptom of something more serious, such as gum disease, a respiratory tract infection, chronic sinusitis or diabetes.
For some of these, it may be that we will have to refer you to your doctor for further investigation.
