Causes Of Halitosis ?
Read about Halitosis presented in simple easy to understand language

In order to battle bad breath and find accurate ways of tackling it, it becomes essential to
pin point the root cause in every case. In spite of all the research and study that has gone into it, all the causes of halitosis have not been entirely understood. Bad breath could be transient or chronic. It could be a temporary oral condition or a deep rooted medical condition.

Certain foods are well known for causing bad breath like onions and garlic. They are not easily masked by superficial cleansing routines once they get absorbed into the bloodstream and get expelled by the lungs. The smell remains until the body rids of it completely through various elimination processes like sweat, urine and stools. Diets high in fruits and vegetables help in keeping bad breath at bay.

Anaerobic bacteria and an environment which is conducive to breeding it makes smelly Volatile Sulphur Compounds (VSC) and deposits it in our saliva . Several dozen of the over 400 types of bacteria found in a human mouth are predisposed to overpopulate when allowed to flourish.

Smoking, breath problems, dry mouth conditions are all major contributing factors to bad breath. Tobacco smoke irritates gums, aggravates existing gum conditions like periodontis , slows down the healing of gum tissue and increases dry mouth conditions. Dry mouth conditions are also caused due various other reasons like some medication usage, mouth breathing and salivary gland problems. Shallow mouth breathing due to allergies and a blocked nose is another major breeding factor for bacteria causing bad breath.

Hormonal factors during changes such as puberty, pregnancy, menopause etc can cause bad breath as hormones control the thickness of saliva and thicker the saliva lesser the oxygen, which is the environment for anaerobic bacteria.

Medications such as antibiotics or sulpha drugs increase the halitosis producing oral bacteria count. Other medications include sinus drugs, antihistamines, some antidepressants or any other drugs that dry out the mouth.

High protein foods like meats and cheese are digested by anaerobic bacteria which create waste products causing bad breath. There are enough naturally occurring protein food sources for the bacteria to feed on in the human mouth without the added high proteins from diet.