It can be an uncomfortable experience discovering your breath isn’t as fresh as it could be.
Whether you’ve realised that your breath smells bad yourself or someone else has told you, which can be an embarrassing experience, you may be wondering what you can do to get rid of bad breath and restore your oral health.
This blog explains why bad breath happens and what you can do to eliminate halitosis – including 7 natural remedies for bad breath that you can use at home.
There are many causes of bad breath, but it’s usually down to smelly bacteria inside your mouth that feed on the sugars from food debris and produce odours. This is why it’s important to brush your teeth and gums to remove this odour-causing bacteria and keep your mouth clean.
Poor dental hygiene is a major cause of bad breath because dead cells and food particles from food stuck between teeth lead to plaque buildup that causes a range of problems.
For example, tooth decay and periodontal disease (gum disease) can cause strong unpleasant odours, as can throat conditions like tonsil stones. Bad oral hygiene and habits like smoking can also lead to having a dry mouth without enough saliva, which can also cause bad breath.
However, if bad breath persists despite good oral hygiene and you consistently have a foul odour and bad taste in your mouth, this could be due to other causes – such as halitosis from bacteria in the throat or stomach as well as the oral cavity.
Sometimes, the best way to prevent halitosis is simply to improve poor lifestyle habits that can cause bad breath. To fight bad breath, you should try:
Throughout each day, you should be sure to drink plenty of water to help rinse away food particles, eat foods that aren’t too sugary or smelly, and chew sugar-free gum or sugar-free mints to remove food particles and keep your breath fresh.
If improved dental hygiene and lifestyle habits – including chewing gum or cleaning your tongue with a tongue scraper – aren’t helping, you might want to try other home remedies for halitosis.
Contact UsPersistent bad breath is called halitosis. This is not the same as temporary bad breath, such as commonly experienced morning breath if you wear a mouth guard while you sleep or ‘garlic breath’ after eating garlic.
If you can smell your own breath, and it’s strong enough that other people around you can smell it, too, this can be very unpleasant and affect your confidence.
Fortunately, there are some simple tricks for fighting halitosis that can reduce the bacteria throughout your mouth and throat that cause bad breath.
Many items you can try as a natural remedy for bad breath are found hiding in your cupboards. So, if you feel you have an issue with bad breath from your stomach, here are 7 natural remedies for bad breath to try at home.
One of the first methods on the list is a simple and cost–effective way to reduce your halitosis. SaltwaterSalt water rinses help to tackle bacteria and wash away any awkward foods that have lingered in between your teeth.
They can be a great alternative to alcohol–based mouthwashes that are sensitive toon your teeth and can cause a dry mouth, or make existing dry mouth worse.
Once you’ve brushed and flossed, add salt to some warm water and mix it together. Move the solution around your mouth for about 30 seconds and continue to repeat until you feel your mouth has had a good rinse.
It may not seem like the most appealing method, but using apple cider vinegar as a natural remedy for bad breath is another great alternative. This is because it’s known for balancing PH levels, making it a perfect solution for bad breath from your stomach.
The best way to take it is to add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to a glass of water. Drink this mixture before any meals that you eat, and feel it workwork wonders for your digestive system and for treating bad breath odours.
Alternatively, you can also gargle the water after adding some apple cider vinegar to it if you would rather use it like mouthwash to treat halitosis.
Although the sour taste isn’t for everyone, chewing on a lemon rind can be great for freshening your breath. It helps to kill off odour-causing bacteria and produces a fresh smell.
Another way you can make the most of the lemon juice is by creating a mouth rinse from it. Add the lemon juice to a cup of water and rinse your mouth with the solution.
The citric qualities found in a lemon can also promote saliva production in your mouth, helping to prevent dry mouth and fighting off the bad breath in the process.
As natural remedies for bad breath go, cinnamon can be one of the most effective. This is because there is an essential oil in it called ‘cinnamic aldehyde’ that helps to kill the bacteria in the mouth and cover up the bad smell.
The best way to take this halitosis remedy is by adding cinnamon powder into a pot of boiling water – even better if you can include bay leaves and cardamom seeds.
Strain the water to remove excess leaves and seeds and use the cinnamon water-likewater like mouthwash to rinse your mouth out twice a day.
To make an alternative mouthwash solution that’s close to an alcohol-free mixture, use baking soda to tackle halitosis. Baking soda has qualities that can help to control the acidity levels in your mouth and fight off any odour that might linger.
To use baking soda as one of the natural remedies for bad breath, add a teaspoon of it to one cup of water. Include a few drops of peppermint essential oil that has antimicrobial properties to kill the growth of microorganisms in your mouth.
Alternatively, if you use less water, it will form a kind of natural toothpaste that you can use to brush your teeth and tongue clean.
Made from the anti-oxidant-richanti-oxidant rich leaves of Camellia sinensis plants, green tea is full of antibacterial properties that are great for your overall health – and they can take on the halitosis-causing bacteria in your mouth, too.
One of the antioxidants in green tea can actually encourage gum cells to release their own antimicrobial chemicals, which can help to prevent both bad breath and gum disease.
It’s much easier to make a habit of drinking a cup of green tea once or twice a day than to mix your own mouthwash rinses, and you can even take these drinks on the go!
We all know that eating enough fruits and vegetables is important for our general health, but did you know that certain types can also help to fight bad breath?
For example, raw fruit and veg like apples, celery, and carrots can act like natural toothbrushes due to their crunchy and fibrous textures. More chewing means more saliva production, which washes away food debris that might stick to the teeth.
Consuming Vitamin C also encourages saliva production, making oranges another excellent choice for a bad breath-busting snack or dessert.
The tips above can lead the way to healthier and fresher-smelling breath. If you find that the problem still persists after consistently trying these natural remedies for bad breath from your stomach, there could be a more serious underlying health condition causing halitosis.
Along with dry mouth, bad breath can be a common symptom of many different health conditions, some of which may be severe and require immediate treatment.
As mentioned earlier, something as straightforward as poor oral health could cause bad breath, due to not brushing your teeth or cleaning your tongue properly. Alternatively, it could be caused by a chronic condition such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), where stomach acid flows back up the throat, which can cause bad breath and heartburn.
It’s crucial to visit your dentist regularly, as they can not only assess your oral hygiene, but can also refer you to a primary healthcare provider for further tests if they have concerns about the underlying cause of your halitosis.
If you would like more information about how to treat bad breath from a dental professional, speak to a dentist about halitosis when you attend your routine check-up.
For help with treating bad breath and improving your dental hygiene, book an appointment at Dental Solutions to evaluate your oral health.
You can consult our qualified dentists or dental hygienists to identify problems that may be causing your bad breath and the best ways to address them.
Click below to book, or contact us by calling 01925 756565. You can also email queries to [email protected] and we will be in touch with more details.
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