Fixing Bad Breath
Where the odour really originates, the habits that resolve most cases, what a hygienist can reach that you can't, and the less common causes that belong with your GP.
Why Do I Have Bad Breath, and What Gets Rid of It?
Nine times out of ten the odour comes from bacteria inside your own mouth, sitting on the rear of the tongue, between the teeth and beneath swollen gums. Clean the gaps between your teeth daily, scrape your tongue, keep saliva flowing and have any gum trouble treated, and most people see a genuine improvement inside two or three weeks. Should it persist, a hygiene appointment at our Broughty Ferry practice with our hygienist, from £70, tracks down and clears whatever your own cleaning can't reach.
What Actually Makes the Smell
Bad breath is chemistry. Bacteria living in the mouth feed on leftover food particles, cells shed by the mouth's lining and the protein in saliva, and as they digest them they release sulphur compounds. It's those gases that other people pick up on, somewhere between stale eggs and overcooked cabbage.
The main culprits prefer spots that are low in oxygen and rarely disturbed: the rough surface across the rear third of the tongue, the snug spaces where back teeth touch, the worn edge of a filling or crown that has seen better days, and the pockets that develop once gums become inflamed. Saliva holds them in check by rinsing over everything all day long. When the flow drops, during sleep or when you're dehydrated, they breed, which explains why breath is at its worst first thing in the morning.
How to Tell If It's Really a Problem
Your own nose is an unreliable witness, because it adapts to your own smell. Cupping a hand over your mouth tells you almost nothing. These are more useful:
- Lick the inside of your wrist, give it ten seconds to dry, then sniff it
- Draw a clean teaspoon gently across the back of your tongue and smell the residue
- Floss between two back teeth and smell the floss afterwards
- Ask a partner, a good friend or a teenager at home. You'll get an honest answer
A constant unpleasant taste, a white or yellow coating on the tongue, or gums that bleed during cleaning all point towards the same conclusion. Equally, some people are anxious about their breath when it's perfectly fine. If we examine you and everything is healthy, we'll say so plainly.
Still Worried About Your Breath?
Arrange a hygiene appointment with our hygienist in Broughty Ferry.
Usual Causes, and How to Spot Each One
| Cause | Tell-tale sign | What normally fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Coated tongue | A white or yellow layer towards the back | Daily tongue scraping or brushing |
| Plaque between teeth | Floss comes out smelling | Interdental brushes or floss every day |
| Gum disease | Bleeding on brushing, a taste that won't shift | A hygiene visit, followed by gum treatment where needed |
| Dry mouth | At its worst first thing, often tied to mouth breathing or medication | Sipping water, sugar-free gum, asking about your tablets |
| Trapped food | The smell or taste is localised to one place | Fixing the broken filling, crown or cavity responsible |
| Dentures, retainers, aligners | The smell is on the appliance itself | Cleaning every day; dentures out overnight |
| Smoking or vaping | Constant, and paired with a dry mouth | Giving up, which is good for your gums as well |
| Garlic, onion, spice, coffee | Arrives and departs with meals | Patience: it's gone within a day |
| Fasting, or eating very few carbs | A fruity, sweet or nail-varnish note | Regular meals, because cleaning won't touch it |
A Routine That Sorts Most People Out
- Start between the teeth. Once daily, preferably at bedtime, work interdental brushes into any gap that accepts them and floss the rest. If you only take up one new habit, choose this one.
- Brush for a full two minutes twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste, angling the bristles into the gum margin instead of scrubbing back and forth.
- Clean your tongue. Go as far back as you can without gagging, using a scraper or your brush, and pull forward a few times. A scraper deals with the rear of the tongue better, and you'll see what it lifts off.
- Spit, don't rinse once you've brushed, leaving the fluoride on the enamel.
- Keep saliva flowing. Sip water regularly, chew sugar-free gum once you've eaten, and have breakfast, which wakes the salivary glands up.
- Clean whatever goes in your mouth. Gum shields, aligners, retainers and dentures gather the same film that teeth do. Give them a daily brush in cool water, and let your gums have a night off from dentures.
Allow two or three weeks before judging the results. If there's no change by then, the cause is probably somewhere you can't reach, such as tartar beneath the gum or a cavity, and that's when to book in with us.
Gum Disease as the Culprit
Of all the things we discover when breath refuses to improve, inflamed gums come up most often. Plaque sitting along the gum margin calcifies into tartar in a matter of days, the gum swells and loses its grip on the tooth, and a small pocket forms. The bacteria that colonise that pocket are precisely the sulphur-producing type, and no toothbrush reaches them.
Warning signs include gums that bleed when brushed or flossed, a red, swollen or glossy look to the gums, teeth that appear to have lengthened, and a foul taste that returns within an hour of cleaning. Picked up early, as gingivitis, it responds to a professional clean plus better home care. Where bone has begun to be lost (periodontitis), our hygienist carries out deep cleaning beneath the gum line in stages, at £100 per stage. 1 The signs and treatment are covered in our gum disease guide.
What Our Hygienist Does That You Can't
A routine appointment with our hygienist lasts 30 minutes. Your gums are measured, tartar is cleared from above the gum line and beneath it, and Airflow (a fine jet of warm water, air and powder) strips film and staining from around each tooth, implant and brace bracket. You're then shown, in your own mouth, where bacteria are gathering and which size of interdental brush suits each gap.
A hygiene visit comes to £70, rising to £100 when Airflow is included. Where build-up is heavy, a 60-minute deep clean at £130 clears it in a single session. 1 Members of either of our dental plans already have hygiene visits covered, so there's nothing to pay on the day. One appointment, plus the home adjustments our hygienist recommends, is enough for most people.
When Your Mouth Is Healthy and the Smell Remains
Occasionally the mouth isn't the source at all. Other possibilities:
- Nose and sinuses: sinus infection and post-nasal drip, usually worse when you have a cold
- Tonsils: small, pale tonsil stones caught in the tonsils' folds
- Stomach: reflux, more likely if heartburn troubles you as well
- Medicines: a surprising number of everyday tablets dry the mouth, including ones prescribed for blood pressure, depression, hay fever and bladder control
- Blood sugar: a sweet or pear-drop odour can point to poorly controlled diabetes and needs checking without delay
Once we've examined your teeth and gums and found them healthy, see your GP and let them know your dentist has already excluded the mouth. That saves a step and helps them look in the right place.
Questions
This guide is general information, not a diagnosis. A dentist needs to examine you to say what is right for your teeth.