What are the causes of bad breath?

Bad breath

According to statistics, 80%~90% of bad breath comes from the oral cavity. Bad breath can be caused by untreated caries, stumps, crowns, poor restorations, abnormal anatomy, gingivitis, periodontitis, and oral mucosal diseases. Among them, dental caries and periodontal disease are the most common related diseases. Food debris and plaque often remain in deep cavities and under the overhangs of poor restorations, and bacteria are fermented and decomposed, resulting in odors.pulp necrosis or purulent pulpitis, which can also emit a foul odor without treatment; Patients with periodontal disease are often accompanied by a large amount of tartar and plaque, and the bacteria in the periodontal pocket ferment to produce hydrogen sulfide, indole and ammonia, resulting in foul odor. In addition, periodontal abscess and periodontal pocket discharge, mostly Staphylococcus aureus combined with periodontal pathogenic bacterial infection, will also emit foul odors. The quality and quantity of saliva also play an important role. The decrease in the amount of saliva and the increase in organic components such as protein reduce the scouring and buffering effect of saliva, causing bacteria to multiply in large numbers, decompose the organic components in saliva, gingival groove fluid and food residues, and produce a large number of volatile sulfides, indoles and other substances, causing bad breath.

The cause of bad breath is not oralogenic halitosis

Diseases of tissues adjacent to the oral cavity, such as purulent tonsillitis, chronic maxillary sinusitis, atrophic rhinitis, etc., can produce purulent discharge and odor; Common clinical diseases such as acute and chronic gastritis and peptic ulcer have a sour odor; Pyloric obstruction and advanced gastric cancer often cause rotten duck egg halitosis; Patients with diabetic ketoacidosis may exhale acetone-scented gas,uremiaThe patient exhales the smell of rotten apples. In addition, leukemia, vitamin deficiency, heavy metal poisoning and other diseases can cause bad breath.

Physiological halitosis

Short-lived bad breath can be caused by hunger, consumption of certain medications or irritating foods such as onions and garlic, smoking, and large amounts of food debris broken down by bacteria due to decreased saliva production during sleep.Bad breath in healthy people may be caused by the increase and thickening of plaque on the back of the tongue due to poor oral habits and oral hygiene. Due to the large surface area of the dorsum of the tongue, there are many papillae, grooves, and depressions, which are conducive to the retention of bacteria, oral mucosal shedding epithelium, food debris, etc., and act as a "bacterial storage room", which is conducive to the production of bad breath. Studies have shown that there is a positive correlation between the degree of bad breath and the amount of volatile sulfides and the thickness and area of the tongue coating, and the relationship with the thickness of the tongue coating is more close, and the volatile sulfides are reduced after the removal of the tongue coating. This may be due to the fact that the thicker the tongue coating, the more likely it is to form an anaerobic environment, which is more conducive to the growth of anaerobic bacteria, and thus the more volatile sulfides are produced, resulting in bad breath.