How to Beat Bad Breath when Brushing and Flossing Are Not Enough

The secret to ridding your mouth of bad breath is not in how you brush, it is in where you brush. Bad breath is something everyone encounters at one time or another. Often you are unaware you're a victim which can lead to some embarrassing situations. Pinpointing the exact cause of your bad breath is not easy to do. There are a number of causes, including the food you just ate, poor digestion and assimilation, pyorrhea and bleeding gums, un-diagnose illness, dry mouth, and germs and bacteria.

Good oral health is one of the keys for prevention of bad breath. Regular visits to the dentist for checkups, cleanings, and other maintenance is essential. Often the dentist will spot a situation starting and be able to contain it before it becomes a serious problem. Regular personal maintenance which includes brushing and flossing are also fundamental; however, attention to the teeth alone may not be sufficient to curtail your bad breath.

A recent study appearing in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology states, certain parts of your mouth are brimming with three to four times more bacteria than other areas. The surface of the teeth, although a mouth surface that does possess bacteria, did not contain as much bacteria as a number of other surfaces inside the mouth. Bacteria are a prime cause of halitosis, the clinical name for bad breath. Although you brush and floss regularly, if you are not hitting the high bacterial halitosis hot spots in your mouth, you will continue to maintain your foul smelling mouth and never beat bad breath.

There are five areas in the mouth the Journal reported as high level bacteria havens. They are; the roof of your mouth, which houses 1,025,000 bacteria. Within the right and left side inner cheeks 1,166,000 bacteria were found. The sides of the tongue held 2,873,000 bacteria each. The gums have a whopping 5,191,000 bacteria swimming around them. And the surface of the tongue, the true halitosis kingdom of the mouth, supported 11,680,000 bad breath promoting bacteria.

Flossing your teeth after every meal and brushing your teeth and these infested areas with baking soda should eliminate or at least greatly reduce any bad breath problem you may have, as long as the cause is not the result of an internal medical condition. The use of mouth wash is not recommended because it is only cosmetic and offer only short time relief from bad breath. Teeth brushing alone will not prevent halitosis. To beat bad breath, you must address the root cause and that is the bacteria havens that reside within your mouth.

Can't Beat Bad Breath? - Men's Health, October, 2008