If you’ve been feeling a bit under the weather lately, the reason might be bad breath – not problems with work or family matters. Believe it or not, folks, halitosis could actually be the reason for your gloom and listlessness. With a million things to be unhappy about, you certainly don’t want bad breath to be one of them.
Don’t beat yourself up too much if you have bad breath. That’s because everyone has bad breath every once in a while. However, if you have chronic bad breath or halitosis, then your case might be a little different.
Fortunately, halitosis isn’t a lifelong spell and can be cured with good oral habits, natural remedies, and sugar-free gum. Even if you don’t have chronic bad breath, doing the same could do wonders for your breath and transform your life quality. That means no more social anxiety, limited social interactions, and low self-esteem because of bad breath.
Even with chronic bad breath, the quality of your life rests in your dental hygiene and habits.
I write a lot about how to improve various aspects of health in my bestselling longevity book, Life Is Long. In this post, I’ll be looking at how bad breath can affect the quality of your life. But first, let’s look at what halitosis is.
What Is Halitosis?
As mentioned earlier, halitosis is a chronic condition characterized by severe bad breath from the mouth even after brushing your teeth. Approximately one out of every four individuals suffer from chronic bad breath. So if you‘re among the bunch, it may help to know that you’re not alone.
Bad breath can either occur externally from the mouth or internally from within your body. A crucial part of treating halitosis is getting down to the root cause of the conditions. With that in mind, there are three main causes of halitosis, and they are:-
Diet
When doctors tell you to watch what you eat, it’s not just because of your weight but also for your dental hygiene.
Excessive sweets and soda, plus a lot of garlic and onions, can cause halitosis. So make sure you take your candy and onions in moderation. Also, avoid excessive alcohol and coffee consumption to keep halitosis at bay.
Dental Complications
The leading cause of halitosis is dental issues emanating from poor dental habits. These dental complications include gum disease, plaque, cracked fillings, and dirty dentures, among others. All these dental issues lead to bacteria build-up, which translates to bad breath.
Chronic bad breath is usually because of bacteria build-up in areas where your dentist can’t reach. This can lead to other oral issues that warrant a visit to the dentist.
Medical Conditions
In rare situations, medical conditions can lead to chronic bad breath. Certain conditions like lung disease, tonsillitis, and certain blood conditions can lead to halitosis. Diabetes, for instance, is well-known for causing bad breath.
The same goes for acid reflux, asthma, and other conditions. Treatment of these conditions will clear your halitosis once and for all.
How Does Bad Breath Lower Your Life Quality
Although you might not know it, bad breath could be the cause of your droopiness. Here are a couple of ways that bad breath diminishes your life quality.
1. Stigmatization
Having poor smelling breath can lead to a stigmatization effect that makes you feel unwanted and inferior. This can lead to shame and embarrassment, especially if you have bad breath. Stigmatization also leads to social isolation, which can translate to social awkwardness.
The scenario is worse for middle school and high school students. Apart from the stigma, they also have to deal with lots of name-calling and bullying.
2. Frustration
Bad breath can greatly degrade the quality of your conversations, which can get you very frustrated. That’s because you’re no longer able to get your points across as clear as you want to. This can be a huge problem if you hold a crucial position at work or an organization.
You might end up losing your job or getting demoted in extreme cases, which will only leave you even more frustrated. If you’re feeling a tad frustrated, then maybe it’s your mouth that’s the problem.
3. Strains Relationships
Poor smelling breath could strain or even put a halt on some of your relationships. Relationships are built and maintained on proper relationships, and bad breath precludes precisely that. It can be difficult to remain close to someone you hold dear when you can’t talk to the person because of your breath.
Bad breath also makes it almost impossible to establish any new relationships. It’s tough to nail the first date when you have a rancid breath. All these strained and failed relationships only culminate in feelings of isolation and severe depression.
4. Poor Work Interactions
If you notice some of your co-workers taking a step back when you speak, then don’t second guess it; you have bad breath. If they turn their heads or offer you mints whenever you talk, it’s probably because of your breath. This can be very distressing, considering you spend a considerable chunk of your day, and your life, at work.
It’s also a double whammy because most of the work activities have to be done in teams. Your bad breath could be the reason why nobody wants to partner with you or be on the same team with you. Even if you land a team, your bad breath will hamper communication between you and your team members.
Poor work interactions aren’t only bad for your self-esteem but for your productivity too. Most people get a sense of purpose and accomplishment from what they achieve at work. This will be a challenge if bad breath hampers your work interactions.
5. Emotional Uneasiness
The psychological effects of halitosis are far-reaching on the mental health of those with halitosis. Some of the negative emotions because of bad breath include depression, shame, and low self-confidence. In severe cases, chronic bad breath can even lead to suicidal thoughts.
Halitosis is much worse for people who are already emotionally afflicted in one way or the other. Chronic bad breath could add salt to injury, making you slip further down the dark hole.
The above are a few ways of how bad breath could deteriorate the quality of your life. However, bad breath isn’t a life-long sentence to gloom, despair, and worthlessness. There are plenty of remedies that one could try out to eliminate bad breath.
4 Tips to Get Rid of Bad Breath
If you’re among the millions of people who suffer from bad breath, there are a couple of remedies you should consider for your situation. Here are a few ways you can get rid of bad breath.
1. Brush At Least Twice a Day
The sticky build up in your teeth called plaque traps bacteria, which then leads to bad breath. These same bacteria consume food stuck between your teeth and make your mouth smell. If you have chronic bad breath, then you can combine your brushing with a bit of flossing every day.
However, take care not to overdo it, or you may end up wearing down your teeth. Worn teeth are more susceptible to decay.
If you have yellowing or browning teeth, then you should consider teeth whitening toothpaste or Crest Whitestrips. Crest white strips can remove over 14 years of staining to leave your teeth gleaming.
2. Use Mouthwash Regularly
Rinsing your mouth can have the same effect as brushing or flossing your teeth, with added convenience. If you don’t have the time nor place to brush or floss, then rinse your mouth with mouthwash. A good mouthwash will get rid of bacteria in your mouth and leave you with a fresh minty breath.
To ensure it does a good job, make sure you rinse your mouth often. If you can’t get mouthwash, a good swish with water will help get rid of food particles stuck in your teeth.
3. Scrape Your Tongue
Most people have the brushing and flossing part on lock but forget to scrape their tongue. The tongue could host a plethora of bacteria that stink up your mouth. That’s why it’s so important to make sure you scrape your tongue whenever you brush your teeth.
If your toothbrush can’t reach all the way to the back of your tongue, then you can get a tongue scraper. Scrapers can apply just the right amount of pressure to dislodge any odor-releasing bacteria from your tongue.
4. Drop the Bad Habits
You can attribute bad breath to some repulsive habits like smoking or chewing tobacco. Apart from causing bad breath, tobacco can also stain your teeth and leave you with an ugly smile. If you want a pretty smile and great breath, then you best steer clear from tobacco. You can try tobacco chew alternative products to get away from this bad habit and explore a range of great places to buy dip alternatives.
Also, avoid overconsumption of alcohol because it’s also a leading cause of bad breath. If you can drop these habits, and adopt better ones, then maybe you can improve your breath. Need help changing your habits? I wrote a book called Happy Habits – which gives you tools to make sure you disciplines sticks.
Bad Breath Isn’t Permanent
Having bad breath is about more than just avoiding conversations; it could have negative repercussions on the quality of your life. However, bad breath isn’t permanent, and if you adopt proper habits, you can wave your bad breath goodbye. If nothing seems to work, then maybe it’s time to schedule a dentist visit.
Now would be a great time to floss your teeth or swish some mouthwash. However, when you get back, be sure to check out the other informative pieces on the site.
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