Causes of Bad Breath/Mouth Odour

We all experience bad breath at one point or the other. When a person wakes up after long hours of sleep, there is usually an accompanying odour on opening his mouth. This happens because the mouth has been shut for long and we produce less saliva while sleeping.

The following are the causes of bad breath:

1. Food such as garlic and onions: when you eat onion or garlic, it gets absorbed into the blood stream and transferred to the lungs. When you breathe, the odour comes out from the lungs and can sometimes linger in the breath for days. Those who eat ‘Suya’ garnished with onions can relate with this.
2. Respiratory infections such as common cold, tonsillitis, sinusitis, lung abscess etc cause bad breath.
3. Poor oral hygiene practices: not brushing your teeth and tongue regularly will surely give you bad breath. 
4. Some dental conditions such as:

• Tooth decay: food particles often accumulate in teeth with holes thereby giving a bad odour.
• Chronic gum diseases: people who use tooth picks indiscriminately (the wooden ones commonly sold) are prone to having gum diseases. They have spaces/pockets between the teeth which allows food particles pack there leading to bad breath.
• Dry mouth (xerostomia): this is seen in people who breathe through the mouth. It can also be a side effect of some medications.
• Overlapping teeth: it is usually tasking to clean teeth tightly packed together. Sometimes, plaque and food particles lodge around the teeth resulting in bad breath.
• Impacted wisdom tooth: food particles get trapped in the gum flap surrounding the impacted wisdom tooth/between the wisdom tooth and the tooth in front. It is often difficult to clean this area thereby giving rise to mouth odour.
• Dental infections: pus discharge from dental infections also cause mouth odour.