The most common cause for bad breath is due to the existence of anaerobic bacteria that lives inside your mouth. Around 90 percent of individuals suffer from bad breath due to this one reason.
What is Anaerobic Bacteria?
The term Anaerobic means that these types of bacteria thrive in locations that do not have oxygen. Bad breath usually comes from Gram-negative anaerobic bacteria.
Inside our mouth we can find a lot of bacteria. There are good bacteria that do not cause bad breath and bad bacteria that do. The two types of bacteria are constantly trying to multiply and gain living space. The one which is able to thrive better will determine whether or not we will get our bad breath.
How Bacteria Make Your Breath Smell
Like other organisms, anaerobic bacteria survive by consuming food and excreting wastes that are usually sulfur-based compounds. Such wastes found in your mouth can cause extremely smelly breath. In most cases, you can associate the stench caused by sulfur compounds with rotten eggs, barnyard smell and ocean smells.
These compounds are labeled as volatile sulfur compounds (VSC) and they are very volatile. Because of that, they can evaporate with ease and will constantly cause bad breath. Often, this embarrassing condition will affect our social lives.
Bacteria Waste Products
Although volatile sulfur compounds are the main cause of bad breath, it is not the only one. Waste products from these bacteria also contribute to it. These unpleasant odors are usually combined so we end up having bad breath caused by waste products and VSCs.
Different waste products from bacteria can be associated with different bad smells. Putrescine is a compound that is linked with bad smells from rotting or decaying meat. When the bad breath smells like human fecal matter, we are dealing with Skatole waste products and when the smell is similar to that of sweat filled feet, Isovaleric Acid is most likely to be the cause.
Everyone is prone to develop such bad breath types. In most cases they can not be detected by our noses because the human nose can not detect low levels of anaerobic bacteria waste products. Bad breath will only come about when the amount of bacteria waste products reaches a certain threshold. That is when your stinky breath will become obvious.
Common Causes For Increasing Anaerobic Bacteria
The first common cause is plaque. Plaque accumulation provides the perfect environment for anaerobic bacteria. This is because a layer of such plaque that is around 0.1 millimeters becomes oxygen free, thus creating the perfect environment for anaerobic bacteria to start multiplying and creating volatile sulfur compounds and bad odor waste products. The simple conclusion is that the more plaque builds up on your teeth or tongue, the more bad breath causing bacteria will appear and multiply and that will only make your breath smell really bad.
Another main cause is protein. In most cases, odoriferous compounds appear because of waste products eliminated by anaerobic bacteria when they digest protein. If we consume foods that are high on protein like fish and meat, we are not only feeding ourselves, but the anaerobic bacteria as well. Other examples of foods rich in protein include eggs, dairy foods, seafood, meat and many more.
How to deal with the problem of anaerobic bacteria and bad breath
We do know that volatile sulfur compounds released by anaerobic bacteria are the root cause. Hence, in order to get rid of the bad smells in our mouth, we have to clean our mouth properly. Cleaning our mouth properly will minimize the food that is available for anaerobic bacteria and will reduce their numbers. This is why brushing and flossing after each meal is recommended by dentists.
Also by reducing the existence of an oxygen-free environment for bacteria to grow in, it will make our mouth less hospitable for anaerobic bacteria. We can also utilize different products that can neutralize VSCs and they are usually included in tooth pastes and mouthwashes.
Conclusion
While anaerobic bacteria are a major cause of bad breath, it might not be the reason behind your bad breath problems. If you are sure that your oral hygiene is good and you still find bad breath to be a problem, you need to consult a doctor. Cleaning appointments with your dentist are also necessary in some cases. These meetings will allow the dentist to clean tartar off your teeth, will prevent possible dental problems that might cause bad breath.
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