Sweet smell from the mouth - do not miss the first symptom of a serious illness. Rotten taste and smell from the mouth: causes and treatment of discomfort in women and men

Bad breath is a very common occurrence among us. The reason for this are various diseases of the digestive system.

Halitosis is another problem in communicating with other people. Modern medicine calls such a condition when a person’s mouth smells of an extremely unpleasant odor - halitosis. In Latin - Halitoz.

In fact, halitosis cannot be called an independent disease; rather, it is a sign of pathological processes occurring in the body. In the absence of proper oral care, bad odor increases, causing discomfort not only to the patient, but also to others.

In this article, we will look at why adults develop bad breath, what are the main causes of this symptom, and how to get rid of it at home.

How to check if your breath smells?

Many people who have unpleasant repulsive breath are not even aware of the problem. It is good if a close person or friend points to it. But this is not always possible, relatives are afraid to offend a loved one, and colleagues prefer to reduce communication with him to a minimum. But the problem remains.

There are several ways to test yourself:

1. Wrist test. Here it will be enough to lick the wrist and let the saliva dry. The smell that you will smell after a few seconds is the smell of the front of your tongue. As a rule, it is much weaker than what it really is, because the front of the tongue is cleaned by our saliva, which contains antibacterial components, while the back of the tongue, in turn, is the very breeding ground for unpleasant odors.
2. You can also try breathe into your palm and instantly smell what you exhale. Or try sticking out your lower lip, pushing your jaw forward a little, and roll your upper lip inward and exhale sharply with your mouth, then smell what you exhaled.
3. Spoon test. Take a teaspoon, turn it over and run it over the surface of your tongue several times. A little white coating or saliva will remain on the spoon. The smell emanating from them is the smell of your breath.

Additional signs include the formation of plaque on the tongue, inflammation of the mucous membrane, a feeling of an unpleasant aftertaste in the mouth. These symptoms do not directly indicate halitosis and may vary, depending on the cause of the disease and the presence of complicating factors.

Causes of bad breath

The causes of halitosis can vary greatly, but before looking for them, you need to make sure that this smell really exists. Modern doctors distinguish several types of halitosis:

1. True halitosis, in which unpleasant breathing is objectively noticed by people around. The reasons for its occurrence may be related to the peculiarities of physiology, insufficient oral hygiene, metabolic processes in the body, or be symptoms of certain diseases.
2. Pseudogalitosis is a subtle bad breath that can be felt on close contact with a person. Usually in such a situation, the patient exaggerates the problem and it is solved quite simply by strengthening oral hygiene.
3. Halitophobia is a person's belief in the smell from his mouth, however, this is not confirmed by either the dentist or the people around him.

Also according to the statistics:

• 80% of the causes of bad breath are associated with problems in the oral cavity.
• 10% with ENT diseases.
• only 5-10% with serious diseases of internal organs and systems - the liver, kidneys, organs of the gastrointestinal tract, organs of the respiratory system, hormonal disruptions, metabolic disorders, autoimmune and oncological diseases.

The most basic thing to understand is that the main cause of bad breath coming from the human mouth is the vital activity of anaerobic bacteria (that is, bacteria that grow and multiply without oxygen). Their waste products - volatile sulfur compounds - are the very smelly gases that smell very unpleasant and lead to bad breath in humans.

Why does bad breath occur?

But there are many reasons that lead to the multiplication of these bacteria. We will analyze them in detail:

1. Poor oral hygiene. Most often, putrid breath is associated with poor oral hygiene, for example, when a person does not use dental floss to clean the interdental spaces from food debris. Surely many of you have felt the stink of the mouth of colleagues who had a bite to eat at work, but did not brush their teeth.
2. gum disease(and periodontitis). The cause of these ailments is poor oral hygiene, soft microbial plaque and hard tartar. When the amount of toxins secreted by the microorganisms of plaque and calculus exceeds the capabilities of the local immunity of the oral cavity, inflammation develops in the gums.
3. . Carious defects of the teeth are filled with a huge amount of pathogenic microflora and food remains always remain in them. This food and tooth tissue quickly begin to rot and, as a result, your breath smells bad. If you want to eliminate bad breath, first of all you need to cure bad teeth.
4. Tartar development- dental plaque that seeps through mineral salts (calcium salts) with its hardening and the development of a chronic infection in it. More often, tartar is the result of gum pathology (gingival pockets), which loosely cover the necks of the teeth and the spaces between their lateral edges.
5. Diseases of the digestive system( , ). In this case, this problem is caused by the pathology of non-closure of the esophageal sphincter, when odors from the stomach penetrate directly through the esophagus into the oral cavity.
6. . Those who suffer from chronic inflammation of the tonsils - the same smells bad from the mouth. If you have a weak immune system or a lot of infection in the oral cavity, then in this case, periodic inflammation of the tonsils can develop into a sluggish chronic form of inflammation. People who suffer from this form of inflammation of the tonsils often complain of terrible breath.
7. - an inflammatory disease that is accompanied by the formation of ulcers on the oral mucosa. Ulcers and dense white plaque are the source of halitosis.
8. - an inflammatory process in the membrane of the tongue, which can occur in conjunction with gingivitis or stomatitis.
9. Intestinal pathology(enteritis and). As a result of inflammatory processes in the intestines, toxic substances enter the bloodstream, which the body removes, including through the lungs, as a result of which bad breath appears.
10. Another common cause of halitosis is dry mouth: saliva does not moisturize or clean the mouth by washing away plaque and dead cells. Thus, the cells located on the gums, the inner surface of the cheeks and the tongue decompose, causing halitosis. Dry mouth can be caused by the use of alcohol, certain medications, pathologies of the salivary glands, and so on.
11. Medications: Many medications, including antihistamines and diuretics, can cause dry mouth, which can cause bad breath. This odor and treatment are often intertwined - a number of drugs can lead to bad odor (insulin, triamterene, paraldehyde, and many others).
12. Quite often, the cause of bad breath is some products. Of course, onion and garlic are rightfully considered champions here. However, after noisy feasts with a lot of meat and fatty foods, bad breath can also appear. True, and it passes pretty soon.
13. Tobacco products: Smoking and chewing tobacco leave chemicals that linger in the mouth. Smoking can also precipitate other causes of bad breath, such as gum disease or oral cancer.

No matter how many different reasons cause bad breath, bacteria are the source of all problems. They are always in our oral cavity, creating a certain microflora there. Any living organism, and bacteria is no exception, when eating, produces waste products, which are volatile sulfur compounds. It is these fetid sulphurous volatile compounds that we feel from the mouth.

Experts believe that one of the most obvious reasons for its appearance is the white matter that accumulates on the back of the tongue. It occurs when a person brushes his teeth incorrectly, leaving the tongue unattended.

How to treat bad breath

In the event of bad breath, treatment is a separate topic of conversation, but what can be done to prevent it from appearing is important to know even for those who do not suffer from such a problem. After all, bad breath, if it appears, cannot be masked later with mint candy.

As noted above, food particles left after eating are the breeding ground for bacteria. That is why so much depends on oral hygiene. It is recommended to take care that after eating there are no pieces of food left in the mouth, which, among other things, contribute to the formation of plaque and tartar. This requires:

• brush your teeth with a soft-bristled toothbrush three times a day to remove food particles left in your mouth and stuck in your teeth;
• clean interdental spaces with dental floss;
• clean the back of the tongue daily with a soft-bristled brush;
• to stimulate salivation, regularly eat fresh fruits and vegetables, adhere to a diet;
• to eliminate xerostomia (dry mouth), rinse your mouth with warm water;
• visit the dentist regularly.

At home, rinsing with vegetable oil helps to get rid of bad breath. To do this, take a small portion of the oil in your mouth and hold it there for 10-15 minutes. The oil has a good property to dissolve all decay products. Then spit and rinse your mouth thoroughly. You can't swallow this oil! With the correct procedure, the oil should become cloudy.

The ability to remove an unpleasant odor is possessed by infusions of herbs such as peppermint, string, cumin, bitter wormwood. To clean the pockets in the gums, it is good to use a rinse after eating with a 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide, diluted with water 1: 1. Peroxide will clean even the deepest pockets well and eliminate the problem.

In addition, there are a large number of modern means of quickly getting rid of bad breath: aerosol fresheners, chewing gum, lollipops, etc. They are characterized by both rapid effectiveness and low stability, due to the short duration of action.

Which doctor to contact

If a bad breath appears, you need to contact a dentist, undergo a professional cleaning of your teeth, cure diseases of your teeth, gums, and get rid of tartar.

If there is no effect, you need to consult a gastroenterologist, and in more rare cases, an ENT doctor (for sinusitis or chronic rhinitis), a pulmonologist (for bronchiectasis), an endocrinologist (for diabetes mellitus).

Few people are pleased when, during communication, the breath of the interlocutor exudes an unpleasant odor. Everyone can face this problem, and the reasons for such a piquant situation can be very different: from serious diseases to lack of basic hygiene. Repulsive amber is caused by colonies of bacteria living in the oral cavity: on the teeth, gums, tonsils, tongue - they produce gases, which includes sulfur. This is what causes bad breath. If this becomes a daily problem, you should visit your dentist as soon as possible.

Halitosis is a persistent unpleasant odor, which is difficult to get rid of with the available hygiene products that people use in oral care. This phenomenon often accompanies pathological conditions of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract, which do not bother a person. Unpleasant amber can also be caused by problems with the gums and teeth. Fear of bad breath becomes a real problem for a person, having a negative impact on his life - both personal and social.

How to assess if you have bad breath:

• Ask close relatives if you have this problem and how often they feel it.
• Lick your wrist, wait a couple of seconds for the saliva to dry, and smell the place - that's what your breath smells like.
• You can be examined by a specialist on special equipment.

What are the causes of bad breath:

1. Diseases of the oral cavity: dental caries, inflammation and bleeding of the gums, purulent plugs on the tonsils.
2. Infectious and bacterial infections of the upper respiratory tract: sinusitis, sinusitis, frontal sinusitis.
3. Disorders in the endocrine system.
4. Diseases of the stomach, liver, intestines, which cause malfunctions in the digestive system.

What else can cause halitosis:

• Starvation and diets. Lack of nutrients contributes to metabolic disorders, and as a result, bad breath appears.
• stressful situations.
• Hormonal fluctuations.
• Smoking tobacco products. Nicotine, tar, phenolic compounds have a bad smell and dry out the oral mucosa. There is a violation of the natural protective function of the mouth and a number of inflammatory processes occur - this is why a persistent unpleasant odor appears.

How to get rid of bad breath?

There are several available methods that will help you permanently get rid of this problem:

1. Make an appointment with a dentist - This specialist should be first on the list if you have been halitosis for a long time. Dentists always oversee the problem of bad breath, both in research work and in practice. The doctor objectively assesses the situation, identifies the causes of the disease and eliminates its sources if they are associated with diseases of the teeth and gums. Dental treatment, cleaning of stones and plaque - the problem will be solved! Using dental floss to clean the spaces between the teeth and lotions will help in solving the problem. There are bacteria that accumulate in large numbers on your teeth, causing ulceration, and only a professional doctor can clean them. From the sores, the teeth become brittle, crumbling, so cracks appear in the enamel - an unpleasant smell comes from the mouth. Caries, rotten teeth, gum disease - these phenomena can cause bad breath from the mouth.
2. Visiting an otolaryngologist - Chronic diseases of the nasopharynx can also cause an unpleasant odor due to foul-smelling discharge from the nose. Bacteria can accumulate in the sinuses and nose, causing infections. Solution: treat the disease and rinse the nose with saline. Do not self-medicate - only an ENT can identify the true problem and prescribe the right treatment that will bring results.
3. Checking the Tonsils - Tonsils are spherical bulges at the back of the throat that resemble prunes. Many bacteria accumulate on their surface, as a result of which whitish-yellow plugs form, from which an unpleasant spirit emanates. The plugs are removed with a special device that injects water under pressure into the tonsils - its name is "Waterpik". If the plugs form constantly, doctors recommend considering surgical removal.
4. Checking the work of the gastrointestinal tract - Problems with the stomach often cause bad breath. Acid reflux occurs when gastric juice and food pieces move up through the esophagus. This condition requires medical treatment with antacids.
5. Proper nutrition - Some foods cause bad breath, such as onion, garlic or spicy food - pieces accumulate in the mouth during meals. Many food chemicals in combination with garlic are absorbed by blood cells and excreted through the lungs, so breathing itself becomes unpleasant, not bad teeth.

Prevention of halitosis and methods for its elimination

• Doctors recommend brushing your teeth twice a day, at least 2-4 minutes in different directions, cleaning the chewing surface and massaging the gums. Also, don't forget to use floss to clean the spaces between your teeth where food particles get stuck. Even the best toothbrush can't get into those hard to reach places. Change your toothbrush every three months or more often.
• Snacks between main meals should consist of yogurt, kefir, fruits, vegetables, salads, and not chips and fast food. After a snack, rinse your mouth with a special lotion, and then use chewing gum for no more than three minutes. Choose quality toothpastes and lotions that do not contain alcohol. Products that contain Triclosan, baking soda and Chlorhexidine are recommended. Rinsing your mouth with warm water after each meal will rid your teeth of food debris.
• In addition to the teeth, it is also necessary to clean the surface of the tongue, since the white coating on it contains bacteria, as well as food debris - in combination, they cause bad smell from the mouth.

These important rules will help solve the problem and allow you to live a full life without fear of complexes!

Bad breath is called halitosis. In most cases, this is one of the manifestations of dental or other diseases, so refreshing products can only mask it for a while.

Poor oral hygiene can exacerbate odor. Often, such a symptom is a harbinger of life-threatening conditions. About the causes of bad breath in adults and the treatment of halitosis, read on.

Causes of bad breath in adults

Bad breath due to pathological causes always has specificity, that is, it is the same for a particular disease.

Caries and other diseases of the oral cavity cause one kind of smell, problems of the stomach and intestines another. Doctors distinguish these types of halitosis:

1. Pathological - it is caused by diseases of the internal organs (extraoral halitosis) or dental problems (oral).
2. Physiological, which is not associated with diseases and is caused by errors in nutrition or lack of proper oral care. This smell occurs when fasting, smoking, taking alcohol or drugs.

There are also such terms as halitophobia and pseudohalitosis. These conditions are due to psychological reasons. In the first case, there is a fear of the appearance of a smell after an illness, suspicious people are prone to this.

Pseudogalitosis refers to obsessive conditions, when it seems to a person that he constantly smells bad from his mouth - this requires the help of a psychotherapist.

This or that cause of bad breath in an adult determines the nature, or shade, of halitosis. It, in turn, helps to understand where in the body the problem can be localized.

Pathological factors cause seven types of odor from the mouth:

• putrefactive;
• feces;
• ammonia;
• sour;
• acetone;
• rotten eggs.

Putrid odor from the mouth

More often indicates dental diseases and pathologies of the respiratory organs. It can appear due to the accumulation of food debris in a carious tooth or under a prosthesis, due to an inflammatory process. The nature of the smell is due to the decomposition of amino acids under the action of bacteria.

As a result, volatile, unpleasantly smelling substances are formed. Listed below are common causes of putrid odor.

1. Respiratory tract diseases - sinusitis, tonsillitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, tonsillitis, allergic rhinitis or bronchitis.
2. Diseases of the oral cavity - dysbacteriosis, stomatitis, periodontitis, caries, diseases of the salivary glands or periodontal disease.

Putrid odor can also cause:

• plaque on the teeth or tartar due to poor hygiene;
• smoking or alcohol abuse;
• impaired digestion - while the smell can be especially pronounced.

Its cause is more often localized in the intestine and is due to dysbacteriosis, obstruction, decreased peristalsis and absorption of food.

The smell of feces from the mouth occurs in people suffering from anorexia or, which is also associated with a violation of the digestion process - food is not digested, it begins to rot and ferment.

A fecal shade of smell sometimes occurs with an infectious lesion of the respiratory system.

The smell of ammonia from the mouth

It occurs in diseases of the kidneys and kidney failure, when the level of urea in the blood is increased, the molecule of which contains an amino group. Due to a malfunction in the filtering system, the body begins to look for other ways to remove this toxic substance - through the skin and mucous membranes. As a result, the breath smells like ammonia.

The smell of acid

Sour breath in an adult provokes increased acidity of the stomach, which can be caused by various diseases - gastritis, duodenal ulcer or stomach ulcer, pancreatitis.

The sour smell can be accompanied by heartburn and nausea.

The smell of rotten eggs

It also appears with problems with the stomach, but already in the case of low acidity, as well as gastritis, this may be accompanied by belching and a feeling of discomfort in the stomach. Another reason for the smell of rotten eggs from the mouth is food poisoning.

He points to diseases - diabetes mellitus, pancreatitis, as well as some other pathologies, which are described below.

There are several pathogenic causes of the smell of acetone from the mouth in an adult. The most harmless of these may be indigestion, but there are serious diseases that cause this symptom.

Diabetes

In advanced forms of diabetes, blood sugar levels are very high. At the same time, a large number of ketone bodies are also released into the blood, which are colloquially called acetone (in fact, these are compounds of the same class with a similar structure).

In this state, the kidneys begin to actively remove acetone, so a urine test will show its presence. In addition to the kidneys, ketone bodies are excreted through the lungs, which causes the appearance of a specific smell from the mouth.

This symptom requires immediate examination and medical attention, as it is a harbinger of diabetic coma.

Liver disease

Acetone in the blood and urine can appear in some liver diseases. This organ produces enzymes that break down substances toxic to the body, including neutralizing ketone bodies.

In violation of liver function, the appearance of acetone and, as a result, the appearance of bad breath may occur.

Thyroid problems

Provoking the smell of acetone from the mouth can be a hyperthyroid crisis - a dangerous, abruptly occurring condition. This is an extreme form of development, in which the production of iodine-containing hormones by the thyroid gland is increased. A characteristic acetone smell also comes from urine.

Other signs of a crisis are agitation, hallucinations, delirium, hand tremors, a drop in blood pressure, muscle weakness, tachycardia, vomiting, and fever.

kidney disease

The smell of acetone can occur with kidney pathologies:

• nephrosis;
• renal failure;
• kidney dystrophy.

Violations in the filtering system negatively affect the protein metabolism in the body, the products of its decay are not completely excreted, and accumulate in the blood. The smell of acetone when breathing also happens with uric acid diathesis.

What to do with bad breath - treatment and drugs

Since most often halitosis is only a symptom, the disease that caused it requires treatment. To do this, you must undergo an examination by passing tests prescribed by a doctor. Depending on the cause, medical or surgical treatment is carried out, for example:

• the use of antibiotics or NSAIDs for inflammatory disease;
• removal of tonsils with tonsillitis;
• puncture of the sinuses of the nose with the accumulation of purulent contents in them;
• treatment of carious lesions;
• removal of a diseased tooth or inflamed pulp;
• hyperthyroidism therapy;
• treatment of hyperacidity of the stomach or other pathologies of the digestive system.

Thorough oral hygiene helps to reduce the intensity of unpleasant odor - the use of a high-quality brush, dental floss, rinses and toothpastes with triclosan, carbamide peroxide, chlorhexidine, cetylpyridine.

Do not use rinses containing alcohol - they dry the mucosa, reducing the amount of saliva secreted.

Folk remedies for bad breath

• Rinse your mouth with warm water with essential oils - mint, sage, clove - at the rate of 2 drops per full glass of water. It is strictly forbidden to swallow the solution, and the oils must be of high quality.
• 10 minutes before a meal, you can chew dried juniper berries, anise or fennel seeds.
• Rosehip tea - 1 tbsp. l. for 200-250 ml of boiling water, leave for 25-30 minutes.
• You can rinse your mouth with a decoction of sour, St. John's wort.
• In case of indigestion, syrup, oil or sea buckthorn juice are useful.
• With indigestion, tea with ginger and honey, a decoction of chamomile, wormwood or dill seeds, flax seeds help.
• With low acidity, red and black currants, apples, fruit juice from viburnum berries, honey are useful, and with increased acidity, carrot or potato juice, a mixture of aloe with honey, a decoction of mint and yarrow.

Any folk remedies cannot be used uncontrollably, and before using them, it does not hurt to consult a specialist.

Which doctor should I contact?

You can get rid of bad breath much faster if you do not self-medicate, but seek help from a specialist. First, evaluate your condition and determine if there are other symptoms.

Toothache, bleeding or inflammation of the gums and other problems in the oral cavity are a reason to visit the dentist. Go to him if, apart from bad breath, there are no signs - it may be necessary to remove tartar or plaque accumulated on the teeth.

Sore throat, nasal congestion, wheezing, cough - with such symptoms, go to the otolaryngologist. If there is discomfort in the intestines, constipation or diarrhea, heartburn, stomach pain, visit a gastroenterologist.

If the dentist does not find problems with the teeth and gums, and there are no other complaints, except for bad breath, then you should go to the therapist - it is quite possible that the existing disease is asymptomatic.

Bad breath is a problem that worries many people, and there is nothing strange in the fact that a difficult period of pregnancy for the body often makes itself felt, among other things, with bad breath. In this article, we will look at the main causes of this phenomenon - both directly related to pregnancy and others, and give you some tips on how to get rid of this problem and prevent it from appearing in the future.

The reasons

We will consider both the causes directly related to pregnancy and others, but we will pay more attention to the first, while we will talk about the second briefly. Let's start with them:

• Incorrect or insufficient oral hygiene - obviously, the solution in this case will be to restore normal care of the teeth, gums and tongue;
• A diet rich in sulfur-containing foods (such as garlic and onions) is generally healthy, but getting rid of bad breath will require either limiting or eliminating such foods from the diet, or brushing your teeth or using chewing gum every time after eating;
• Diseases or damaged microflora of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as teeth and gums - to solve the problem, you will have to cure the disease that creates bad breath;
• Alcohol and smoking - it would not be superfluous to recall that during pregnancy, tobacco and alcohol must be completely abandoned, as well as caffeinated products and various stimulants.

You can find more detailed recommendations on how to deal with bad breath in the general case in dedicated to home methods for solving this problem. Now let's move on to 5 causes of bad breath during pregnancy.

1. Unstable hormonal background

Pregnancy is accompanied by constant changes in the body, which include a constant change in hormonal levels. During this period, the body is exposed to huge doses of estrogen and progesterone compared to the norm, and the side effects of this can be very different.

So, the gastrointestinal tract and salivary glands fall under attack - both of them can lead to the appearance of bad breath. Acidity and a number of other characteristics of the environments of the gastrointestinal tract and oral cavity may change, and therefore their microflora may change, and, as a result, the chemical balance as a whole.

2. Lack of vitamins and minerals

The need to ensure the development of the baby's body at all stages radically changes the necessary norms for the consumption of various minerals, vitamins and other substances important to the body. The body has no other way to announce the lack of these substances, except by creating a feeling of hunger. Meanwhile, hunger can be drowned out by food that does not contain those substances that the body is deficient in.

A similar deficiency can also lead to bad breath, for example, due to a lack of calcium to renew teeth and subsequent pathological conditions of the teeth and gums.

3. Dehydration

Inadequate water supply is one of the most common causes of bad breath during pregnancy. It is necessary not only to observe the usual water regime, which implies two liters of water drunk per day, but also add at least 0.5-1.5 liters to that. In addition, it is desirable to use water directly, and not tea, various juices, and so on.

If your body gets enough water, it will have no trouble producing enough saliva to control the bacteria that are partly responsible for bad breath.

In addition to drinking water, rinsing your mouth and washing your face several times a day also helps. This reduces the water consumption of the body and, accordingly, helps to avoid dehydration in the future.

4. Morning sickness

A significant proportion of women - more than 50 percent - experience malaise in the morning, associated with nausea and vomiting. Its peak occurs between the sixth and twelfth weeks of pregnancy. A direct consequence of this is, again, bad breath. After morning bouts of vomiting, oral hygiene procedures should be repeated to avoid the manifestation of the problem we are considering.

5. Slow down digestion

During pregnancy, there is a significant slowdown in the processes of the gastrointestinal tract. As a result, significant amounts of gas accumulate in the gastrointestinal tract, which can lead to belching and bad breath. In addition, the diet also contributes, often different from the ideal, with bouts of hunger, including at night - although the body requires nutrients, the stomach may not have time to fully digest food. For this reason, it is better to rethink your diet once again, achieving the best balance of nutrition and ease of digestion, if possible.

Treatment and prevention

Most often, bad breath is not a sign of any serious pathology, and to get rid of it, it is enough to follow a few preventive measures.

Practice good oral hygiene. So, in addition to a toothbrush, it is necessary to regularly use a scraper or a spoon to clean the tongue, as well as dental floss to clean the space between the teeth.

During the day, it will be useful to rinse your mouth several times with water, or, even better, with a decoction of one of the herbs such as chamomile, fennel, sage, thyme, or even green tea.

You can also learn about ways to deal with bad breath in a child at.

If, in addition to bad breath, you have other symptoms that bother you that may be associated with the gastrointestinal tract and oral cavity, or if you cannot get rid of it on your own, you should schedule a visit to a specialist in the near future.

About 80-90% of the adult population suffers from bad breath. If in most cases this is a physiological phenomenon, eliminated with a toothbrush, then in 25% of patients halitosis is persistent and indicates the development of diseases of the teeth, mucous membranes or internal organs. The problem is not insoluble, but requires examination by specialists. Why does an unpleasant "aroma" appear?

Causes of bad breath

There are two types of halitosis: physiological and pathological. The first type is caused by an improper diet and poor hygiene, and the second by dental problems and diseases of the internal organs.

The main causes of a putrid odor:

The appearance of a persistent odor in a man or woman should force the patient to undergo an organism diagnosis. In 8% of cases, the cause of the unpleasant aftertaste of rot is diseases of the bronchi, lungs, nasal mucosa and polyps.

Why does it smell like rot?

The occurrence of an unpleasant aftertaste is often associated with personal hygiene. Incorrect brushing of teeth, insufficient amount of time allocated for morning and evening care, leads to the multiplication of bacteria, the waste products of which are deposited on the teeth, tongue and mucous membranes.

Sometimes a person can identify a problem in the body by the type of smell. So with diabetes it smells like acetone, with liver failure it smells like fish, and kidney dysfunction is accompanied by a sharp and heavy smell (we recommend reading:). In this case, complex treatment may be required.

Dental causes

Bacteria that cause bad breath live on the tongue, between the teeth, and on the gums:

1. The reason for the appearance of a discomfort-causing "aroma" may be caries. Microbes and food debris accumulate in the cavities of tooth enamel, which decompose over time. With the help of hygiene products, holes in the teeth are almost impossible to clean.
2. With periodontitis, microorganisms actively develop under the gum, which is accompanied by the release of a sulfurous odor.
3. Other diseases can also serve as a cause: stomatitis, periodontal disease, dysbacteriosis, disruption of the salivary glands.
4. A common problem is the improper care of structures - caps, prostheses. The accumulation of saliva and food particles leads to an intensive multiplication of bacteria during their use.

Problems with the gastrointestinal tract

By the nature of the smell, you can independently calculate the problem:

1. Sour smell (we recommend reading:). Appears with an increase in the acidity of gastric juice. May be due to pancreatitis, stomach ulcers, gastritis.
2. The smell of feces. Appears with intestinal obstruction, dysbacteriosis, poor absorption of nutrients. "Aroma" can be disturbing in violation of the digestive process, when the products are slowly digested, which causes fermentation.
3. The smell of hydrogen sulfide. Occurs with gastritis or a decrease in acidity in the stomach. It can also be the result of food poisoning.

The development of bad breath is promoted by protein foods: meat and dairy products. Substances break down and form alkaline compounds that change the acid balance in the mouth. Microorganisms begin to multiply actively, causing an unpleasant odor.

Other reasons

The smell of rot can be caused by other factors:

Rotten mouth odor in a child or teenager

A toddler or teen can have bad breath for a number of reasons. The main factor is the development of pathogenic microorganisms in the tongue or in the tonsils due to an imbalance in the microflora. This is due to the appearance of dry mouth, the causes of which may be:

Other factors that cause a putrid taste are less common - the appearance of caries or diseases of the stomach and intestines. The child will need to undergo a comprehensive examination.

Diagnostic methods

To identify the presence of plaque in the mouth that causes bad breath, you can independently carry out the procedure with a sanitary napkin or dental floss. If there is a yellow coating on the material and an odor appears after 30-45 seconds, you should contact a specialist.

In medicine, different methods are used to detect halitosis and its causes:

If the breath stinks, the doctor can analyze the history (when the smell appeared, whether there are diseases of the internal organs, whether the problem is related to eating). An important part of the study is to perform a detailed analysis of a person's blood to determine the level of sugar, kidney and liver enzymes.

The patient is being examined by an otolaryngologist, gastroenterologist and pulmonologist. This will identify diseases of the nasopharynx, as well as exclude or confirm systemic diseases of the liver, kidneys, the presence of diabetes, problems with the respiratory system.

Methods of treatment

Patients are wondering - what to do if there is an unpleasant aftertaste in the mouth? Treatment depends on the cause of the problem.

• ENT diseases require a visit to an otolaryngologist, chronic diseases require consultation of individual specialists.
• If the cause of bad breath is diseases of the oral cavity, it is necessary to remove the destroyed teeth, seal the areas damaged by caries. It does not hurt to undergo professional cleaning of deposits (stone, plaque), which can only be done in a dental clinic.

Preventive measures