Dental care professionals have stated that various ear and nose infections can result in oral health condition known as halitosis adding that preventing and treating mouth odor should go beyond twice-daily tooth brushing.
Halitosis is an oral health problem where the main symptom is bad-smelling breath.
The specialists also warned Nigerians to watch what they eat, saying that particular foods could contribute to halitosis.
The experts recommended Nigerians to adopt the habit of visiting the dentist once every six months for teeth scaling although pointing out that improper tooth brushing procedures as well as neglecting the tongue could potentially cause bad breath.
They emphasized that there was a limit to what toothbrushes could accomplish and mentioned the necessity of scalability.
It has become essential to address the underlying causes of halitosis, according to specialists, Consulting Dentist at Yanga Dental Clinic, Dr. Abraham Akinbami, and Dr. Adekemi Adeniyan, Founder and Executive Director of Dentalcare Foundation who spoke with PUNCH Healthwise.
They stated that halitosis could be humiliating for the patient and could result in low self-esteem.
Dr. Akinbami said; “The cause of halitosis is not straightforward. Mouth odour can be from outside the mouth and inside the mouth. If it’s inside the mouth, it can be from the accumulation of dirt and plaque calculus bacteria in the mouth. Then outside the mouth, it can be from the food someone takes, such as garlic, and onions then for some people that have gastric/stomach ulcers, it can cause mouth odour sometimes.
“Then if someone has a nose or ear infection, it can cause mouth odour, sometimes we tell them to see the ENT doctors after they must have come to us and we couldn’t give them the solution. Another thing is that when people don’t brush well, they can have halitosis. Another thing is that during fasting, people tend to have bad breath as well”.
Dr. Adeniyan also spoke, saying: “When talking about the causes of mouth odour, we look at the external and internal causes.
“The internal causes could be as a result of a certain disease. It could also be a result of maybe tooth decay in the mouth, maybe a hole in the tooth that has not been treated for a long time, or someone with systemic conditions such as ulcers and even diabetes. All these can cause mouth odour.
“And of course, there are also external reasons such as not brushing properly, not taking care of the mouth as you should, not flossing, not brushing using the right techniques, the kind of food consumed also matters, like people who take garlic and onion a lot”.
Despite brushing twice a day, he pointed out that mouth odor can still exist since some areas of the mouth are inaccessible to toothbrushes.
“There are places your dental floss may not be able to get to in your mouth and when food accumulates in those places, bacteria start living there for a long period and these accumulations get stuck in your teeth and they end up smelling over a long period.
“That’s why it’s good to visit the dentist every six months so that you’ll be able to find these bacteria and get rid of them.
“Also, if your mouth odour is coming from a disease like ulcer or diabetes, treating them is what gets rid of the mouth odour because no matter how much you brush and take care of your mouth, you’ll not get rid of odour if you don’t treat it.
“The best way to brush your teeth is by brushing lightly not brushing hard. The majority of us have this school of thought that the harder we brush, the better it is for our teeth and the easier it is for us to get rid of mouth odour. So, You’ll see people buying these hard toothbrushes because of that but It is not so.
“Just getting the right techniques because there are different techniques. But usually I just tell people that, half open the mouth, then put your toothbrush at 45 degrees angle, take a stroke up and down, take it section by section, from the upper part to the lower part, section the movement from the right to the left, and do not forget the tongue.
“Many of us brush our teeth and forget the tongue, meanwhile, accumulation on the tongue can also cause mouth odour,” he said.
In addition, he advised Nigerians to massage their gums, use a circular motion when brushing, and brush the tongue.
“I mostly advise people to go to the dentist for the proper lesson on how to brush their teeth or make use of some online videos, to have a pictorial and do it right.
“I’ll say mouthwashes mask mouth odour, comparable to someone who has mouth odour and is using perfume on it. It masks it. What gets rid of mouth odour is brushing your teeth properly.
“Some mouthwash can even amplify the mouth odour because some mouthwash contains alcohol or some contents that are not friendly to the mouth and people buy these without knowing which is good and at the end of the day it will worsen the case. So while it’s a good thing to add mouthwash to your oral hygiene, it doesn’t always get rid of mouth odour.
“The best way to eliminate mouth odour is to take care of your tooth properly, prevention is always better than cure. 99 per cent of mouth odour are caused by bad oral hygiene.
“Also visiting your dentist every six months is very crucial so they can help you remove what your toothbrush or floss cannot remove. If you also have any issues with your teeth, they can be fixed immediately,” he added.
