The Bad Breath Blog

Why are some people so sensitive to halitosis, while others seem to be almost immune to the smell of bad breath? There are several reasons, including basic physical factors like a hypersensitive nose or the presence of an unfamiliar or especially strong scent. But, overall, we can chalk up insensitivity to bad breath to the fact that all diets, not matter how veggie-heavy, appear to cause halitosis.

This means that virtually everyone gets bad breath, which then makes it harder for their noses to pick up on the smell of other peoples’ oral funk.

It’s true — and a new study appearing in the European Journal of Nutrition has confirmed it. Author Jukka Meurman, of the University of Helsinki, began by considering the idea that certain diets are more likely to give you funky breath. After all, if specific foods like garlic or asparagus can give you halitosis, then why not whole dietary regimens?

However, Meurman found that there’s hardly one style of eating that causes oral odor. Instead, all diets seem to.

He did note that “fermentable carbohydrates…should be avoided in cases with bad breath,” since carbs may encourage bacteria to multiply. But overall, he could not point his finger at just one offending diet: “No controlled studies exist on the effect of dietary regimens on halitosis, which in effect is mostly due to putrescence in deep periodontal pockets or tonsillar crypts.”

He’s certainly right there. Most bad breath starts in the mouth as a result of gum disease, tonsil stones or a dry tongue.

Now, that’s not to say that food doesn’t cause bad breath. It does. Rather, Meurman found that all diets (instead a particular one) eventually lead to halitosis.

Consider a diet that’s dairy-heavy. Would you expect it to give you bad breath? (After all, certain cheeses are quite stinky, and milk seems to reliably lead to funky mouth odor.) Well, if you said yes, you’d be right: Dairy can quickly ferment in your mouth, leading to the production of volatile sulfur compounds, the molecules that give halitosis its nasty reek.

That doesn’t mean that milk is without its dental benefits. Not only does dairy contain calcium, a mineral needed for bone hardness, but it is also the breeding ground for Lactobacillus salivarius K12, the microbe used in specialty oral care probiotics to banish other, odor-causing bacteria.

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There is a 30-day diet that is making headlines in Los Angeles. FoxNews.com reported on the new “Tongue Patch” diet has been done to sixty seven patients and counting. Plastic surgeon Dr. Nikolas Chugay is using a FDA approved material to place a patch on his patient’s tongue for thirty days. This patch makes chewing extremely difficult and painful, leading the patients to only drink liquids for the thirty days that the patch is in place.

Dr. Chugay sells his recommended liquid beverage for $200 for a month’s supply. Patients that receive the tongue patch get the supply for free.

According to Dr. Chugay, the patients that have undergone the procedure are only experiencing minimal side effects, that main one being irritation and in which case the patch is removed a week early.

Results are typically a loss of fifteen to thirty pounds in a month. Those are some large numbers, but it is to be expected on a completely liquid diet.

This diet mostly likely won’t have lasting results. However, Dr. Chugay’s office does follow-up with patients for five to six months to help them how to eat right, exercise and deal with stress.

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Recently, E! TV’s website posted a short clip of an episode of the Dr. Oz show where Dr. Oz smells a woman’s breath and clearly taken aback by it. While it is a funny scene, and no doubt embarrassing for the woman, Dr. Oz does state that bad breath may be a warning sign of something else and is no laughing matter. It is definitely true that bad breath is not something to be ignored; it may be a symptom of one or more of the following conditions:

Dry mouth and gum disease are often linked to bad breath. This is because the volatile sulfur producing compounds in our mouth that cause bad breath thrive in a dry, anaerobic environment. When our mouths are full of healthy, oxygen-rich saliva, then it is harder for the bacteria to thrive and create bad breath. The best way to avoid dry mouth is to use oral care products that don’t contain alcohol (you may want to check your ingredient labels) and to keep hydrated, drinking plenty of water throughout the day. None of TheraBreath’s products contain alcohol of any sort and are ideal for maintain fresh breath.

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As we have discussed in other articles and posts, diet definitely can have an impact on your breath. Savory, fatty foods and those that are high in protein can often lead to bad breath. The consumption of these foods can leave your mouth coated in grease, food particles and foul-smelling odor molecules.

Pizza and hot dogs are two delicious foods that can often result in bad breath, if the proper oral care products are not used. Now imagine trying to each 68 hot dogs in ten minutes. That is exactly what American Joey Chestnut did in 2009 in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Competition, beating out the long standing, six time champ Takeru Kobayashi. Quickly engorging on that many protein-packed hot dogs full of carbohydrates and scrap meat will definitely not do your breath (or your digestive system) any favors.

Foods rich in protein often result in bad breath as they release ketones and ammonia when the protein molecules are broken down. These bad smelling particles travel in the bloodstream, into the lungs where they are exhaled as foul smelling odor.  It is safe to assume that eating 68 hot dogs in ten minutes doesn’t lend itself to chewing thoroughly. This also makes it harder on your digestive system to break down the proteins.

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As you’ve been told from childhood, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. In today’s busy world, it’s all too common for people to get up and run out the door to the office or school without having time to grab something to eat. But eating breakfast is very important. Your body hasn’t eaten in many hours (depending on how long you sleep) and your metabolism needs to get kicked back into gear with a meal to carry you throughout your day.

But did you know that skipping breakfast can also lead to bad breath? Chewing while eating your breakfast helps to stimulate your salivary glands, thus creating saliva to keep bad breath away and to help digest the food you are eating.

Most people wake up with morning breath. This is because while we sleep, our brain tells our salivary glands that we are sleeping and decreases saliva production. Learn more about morning breath and how to treat it here: http://www.therabreath.com/art_morningbreath.asp. (more…)