Why Your Bad Breath Persists Even After Brushing: 10 Surprising Causes

It’s common for bad breath to disappear after brushing your teeth or using mouthwash. However, if you still have a strong odor after brushing or notice a smell you haven’t detected before, it’s crucial to identify and address the cause. We may not be aware of many potential causes of bad breath, so paying attention is crucial. Let’s take a look at some factors that can trigger bad breath.

 

Intense Dieting

Your food intake usually decreases during a diet, leading to a lack of carbohydrates. Typically, our bodies use glucose, produced from the digestion of carbohydrates, for energy. But when you’re dieting, the supply of glucose becomes irregular, and your body turns to ketones, broken down from fat, as an alternative energy source. The production of ketones, which happens when metabolism is not functioning correctly, can significantly cause bad breath.

 

Kidney Issues

If your breath smells like a restroom, you might want to consider the possibility of kidney issues. Chronic kidney disease can cause a decrease in the ability to expel waste, leading to an ammonia smell in your mouth. This occurs because your body expels urea through your saliva instead of your urine, leading to bad breath. Even if you don’t have chronic kidney disease, this can occur temporarily due to acute kidney disease or dehydration.

 

When Liver Disease Occurs

A smell similar to a rotten egg is emitted when liver disease occurs. The liver purifies various toxic substances in the body, but when liver diseases such as cirrhosis occur, it cannot correctly detoxify them, causing a smell. Because liver diseases often show no distinct symptoms, doctors recommend regular health check-ups to monitor your liver health.

 

Sweet or Acetone Smell

If your breath smells sweet or like acetone, you might want to consider the possibility of diabetes. When ketoacidosis, a severe complication of diabetes, occurs, the blood produces a large amount of ketone substances. If you haven’t eaten a lot of fruit, but your breath strongly smells like fruit, visiting a hospital and getting a check-up is a good idea.

 

Is there a severe smell along with a foreign body sensation?

If you experience severe bad breath and a foreign body sensation in your throat, you might want to consider the possibility of tonsil stones. Tonsil stones are small, yellowish lumps that form when food debris and bacteria accumulate in the small holes in your tonsils or adenoids. Tonsil stones can cause severe bad breath and are removable at an otolaryngology clinic.

 

People with Severe Abdominal Obesity

Abdominal obesity is known to affect oral diseases that cause bad breath. This is because the inflammation caused by abdominal obesity affects the gums through the blood vessels. Periodontal disease is not apparent unless it worsens to the point of nerve damage, so it is important to be vigilant. Obese patients are at a higher risk of periodontal disease, and the symptoms progress faster, so it is advisable to receive regular check-ups or scaling.

 

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) is Also a Suspect

If you have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) or indigestion, the smell from the esophagus can rise through your mouth. GERD, a disease where stomach acid refluxes into the esophagus, causes burning pain and irritation inside the chest. Additionally, if gastrointestinal disease causes stomach bleeding, it can produce a detectable blood smell.

Did your breath suddenly get worse?

If you suddenly have bad breath that you didn’t have before, you might want to consider the possibility of otolaryngological diseases such as abscesses or rhinitis. Most of these diseases make breathing difficult through the nose, so you often breathe through your mouth. Breathing through your mouth can cause your saliva and mouth to dry, promoting bacterial growth. Protein decomposition can occur easily if bacterial growth in the mouth is active, increasing the likelihood of bad breath.

 

Severe Stress

When our bodies are under stress, the sympathetic nerves become active, causing the heart to beat faster and the muscles to tense up. However, the activity of the parasympathetic nerves decreases, reducing the amount of saliva. Saliva plays a role in eliminating bacteria in the mouth, but when saliva decreases, bacteria that cause odors can grow well. Therefore, managing stress also plays a crucial role in reducing bad breath. If you have bad breath without any particular cause, you should find ways to reduce stress.

 

When You Eat High-Protein Foods

Did you know that consuming high-protein foods such as meat, fish, dairy products, and peanut butter can cause bad breath? Examples are the bacteria that cause bad breath, love proteins, ammonia compounds released when meat is broken down, or the trimethylamine from fish. It helps to chew sugar-free gum containing xylitol to eliminate bad breath, and eating foods that stimulate a lot of saliva can also help suppress the smell.

By. Shin Young Jeon