Life creates enough challenges. The last thing you want is to have to navigate your day with an added stressor. If you have bad breath, though, you face exactly that. Even seemingly simple social interactions can be anxiety-inducing when you’re worried about opening your mouth.
We can help. Here at our office in the University Park neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, Dr. Scott Evans and our team can target the root cause of bad breath with our dental cleanings, which we offer to people of all ages through our family dentistry services.
The professional teeth cleaning you get in our office is just one piece of the puzzle, though. If you want to figure out what to do with bad breath, follow these steps.
First, understand it
Bad breath, or what dental professionals call halitosis, usually comes from bacteria in your mouth. Specifically, you can often blame that unwelcome odor — beyond those known temporary offenders like onions or tuna fish — on plaque, the sticky film of bacteria and sugar that forms on your teeth after you eat.
Plaque doesn’t just contribute to tooth decay and gum disease. It also stinks. As it feeds on the leftover food particles in your teeth, it emits a waste product that smells less than pleasant. If you’re not diligent about removing plaque, it hardens and becomes tartar, which is much more difficult to get rid of with your own brushing and flossing.
Begin at home
Treating bad breath starts with tackling the plaque that hangs around in your mouth. Knowing that brushing and flossing your teeth removes plaque and connecting plaque to your bad breath can help you get into better oral habits.
Brush at least twice a day — preferably, after each time you eat — and floss daily. Finish up with an antiseptic or antibacterial mouthwash to rinse away any particles of food or debris. This home routine does a good job of getting rid of the bacteria from your teeth that causes most cases of bad breath.
While you ramp up your oral health habits, check your other habits, too. Using any type of tobacco product can make your breath significantly worse.
Get a dental cleaning
You probably know that getting your teeth cleaned regularly by a dental professional helps do important things like prevent cavities. These visits don’t just serve a preventive purpose, however. They can also address issues you have going on now, including bad breath.
Specifically, by removing plaque and tartar from your teeth — particularly the tartar that resides at your gumline just waiting to cause oral health problems — we can help freshen your breath.
In the days that follow your dental cleaning, check your breath. If it continues to smell bad, you may be dealing with a medical condition, like dry mouth or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Talk with our team, and we can help you explore your options to address the root cause of your chronic bad breath.
Most people notice a dramatic improvement in their breath after a professional teeth cleaning. We’re here to help you get rid of your halitosis. To schedule your cleaning, call our office at 214-337-5202 today.
