You probably don’t want to know about how bad breath and the tongue are interrelated. In fact, you would most likely just rather pop in a breath mint and forget about the whole mess that has become your halitosis problem. But, the sad truth is that bad breath problems can honestly start to threaten you entire social network if you don’t address them head-on. The latest bad breath research suggests that a problem with halitosis may be one of the first things that people notice about you and go a long way towards determining how you are perceived from that moment onward. Therefore, unless you plan to buy stock in a breath mint company, perhaps it is time you just faced the problem and got down to what was causing it.
When bad breath is not caused by gum disease or some infection of the mouth, throat, or teeth, then the tongue may very well be the source of the problem. A dentist can determine the true root of the chronic bad breath by using an instrument known as a Halimeter-a device that measures miniscule gas emissions in your mouth to pinpoint their exact origin. In a lot of cases, the Halimeter will find the highest emissions coming from your tongue.
The emissions that the machine is detecting are coming from sulfur compounds that are being produced by oral bacteria living in your mouth. Feeding upon just about anything they can find including food particles and even dead skin cells, these bacteria produce by-products known as sulfur compounds. These compounds are the true source of bad breath problems. The three most common compounds are:
- Hydrogen Sulfide
- Methyl Mercaptan
- Dimethyl Sulfide
These compounds transform quickly into a gaseous state and these are the emissions being detected by the Halimeter. There are two common places to find high concentrations of these emissions in your mouth: at the gum line (as is the case when you have gum disease) and at the back of the tongue.
The back of the tongue happens to be an area of high plaque concentration and the most common source of bad breath odor. Bacteria love plaque because it shields the microbes from saliva, the body’s natural agent in the struggle to prevent bad breath. In addition, the back of the tongue is a rich source of nutrients as there are always food particles getting trapped back there in the sticky film of plaque. In more ways than one, your diet and bad breath are related as your food becomes the same food that the bad breath bacteria feed upon. If you look in the mirror at your tongue and notice a white layer on it-then you have found the source of your bad breath problems.
While many bad breath products claim to fight plaque, this generally refers to your teeth. Unfortunately, to truly get rid of your bad breath, the tongue will need to be scraped by your dentist-but once completed, your problems with halitosis should be over immediately!
But this will only be a temperary relief, and you will need to continue to kill off the harmful bacteria that build up on your tongue everyday. Good oral hygiene combined with an all natural product like OraMD® will help keep your breath fresh and clean.
