By:ADINA AWUNI MIRIAM-BACS231168

Bad breath, also known as Halitosis, can be very disturbing and in some cases may leads to uneasiness. It’s not surprising that store shelves are stocking with gum, mints and mouthwash products designed to fight bad breath. But many of these products are only temporary measures because they don’t tackle the cause of the problem.

Speaking with  Dr. Louisa. A. Satekla who is a dental surgeon at the Charisma Dental Clinic, she mentioned that there are several ways of classifying halitosis. S

he said there is Real halitosis, psychogenic halitosis, intraoral halitosis, Psychological halitosis and extra oral halitosis and then there is Pathological halitosis. She continued to say that in Real halitosis, there is actively a distinctive bad breath that can be recognized and this usually exceeds the socially accepted levels but in psychogenic halitosis however, the patient believes they have bad breath but there is no objectively verifiable smell, so basically is it all in their heads.

She further explained that in Psychological halitosis, the bad breath is not related to any abnormality, example is the bad breath that you have after eating strong smelly foods like garlic, onions and the morning breath that you have. These are normal and it applies to everybody. On the other hand, Pathological halitosis is where the problem is literally, so in this case it means there is a disease process which is causing the bad breath. It could be in the mouth, throat, and even the respiratory tract.

She said that in the case of intraoral halitosis, the source lies within the mouth and in Extra oral halitosis the source lies outside the mouth. The most common origin of bad breath is usually in the mouth and over 90% of the cases and this is caused by bacteria. She stated that 10% of cases of bad breath have their source coming from somewhere other than the mouth but a lot of people don’t know about this. She said it could be from the ear, nose or throat, the lower respiratory tract or even the digestive tract, liver and kidney diseases could also lead to bad breath.

Dr. Louisa outlined some of the causes of halitosis, which are Nasal obstruction from nasal conditions like common colds could force you to breath from the mouth and this leads to dry mouth causing bad breath.

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Sinus infection, and this occurs when there is a fluid buildup in your sinus, and sinus are the filled spaces in your skull and they serve different purposes, cold allergies, smoking or exposure to second-hand smoking and a weak immune system can cause sinus infections leading to bad breath.

She said that staying hydrated, maintaining good oral hygiene by brushing twice daily and cleaning the back of the tongue with a tongue scrapper, flossing in between the teeth and also eating fruits and vegetables like, parsley, cucumber, oranges and apples are some of the ways of preventing bad breath because it’s been shown that these fruits and vegetables are instrumental in maintaining fresh breath.

Doctor Louisa advised that we visit the dentist regularly for professional cleaning to get rid of plagues and calculus buildup in the teeth and the yellow and brown stuff in between the teeth. She also mentioned that if you notice you have bad breath see your dentist so the cause of your bad breath can be determined and then treatment can be started straight away.