Bad Breath - four main causes
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Bacterial Imbalance. The number one cause of bad breath or halitosis. The imbalance is usually due to lifestyle choices we make every day. This imbalance usually favours anaerobic bacteria. These are bacteria that live without oxygen but rather use iron as an energy source. They get this iron by breaking down mouth tissue causing bleeding, and then removing the iron from the blood. The waste products anaerobic bacteria release are called Volatile Sulphur Compounds (VSC). It is these VSCs that are the smells of bad breath. The three main compounds are hydrogen sulphide, methyl mercaptan and dimethyl sulphide. |
Anaerobic Bacteria And Bad Breath
The main job of anaerobic bacteria is to break down proteins for energy. Some of these bacteria are normal and some can be pathogens that cause gum disease. These bacteria like to hide under the gums where they can break down gingival tissue and release blood. They also like to aggregate at the back of the tongue right at the gag reflex. Anaerobic bacteria are much more hardy than their aerobic cousins and are therefore harder to remove from the mouth. They will form into colonies within 12 hours of being in the mouth. Once in a colony they have a mechanism that protects them from disinfectant mouthwash and antibiotics. This is why normal toothpastes and mouthwash can not successfully treat bad breath.
However if you use non-foaming gels as your cleaner, this enables you to access hard to reach places that normal toothpaste will not go. Also using mild alkaline mouthwash enables you to clean under the gums. |
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Poor Mouth Cleaning. Our parents trained us to believe that cleaning your teeth is enough to keep a clean mouth. This could not be further from the truth. A proper cleaning regime needs to remove the buildup of bacteria before they can form into colonies and start to cause bad breath, tooth decay or even worse gingivitis or periodontitis. This bacteria buildup happens every 12 hours, so it is important that the proper cleaning regime be done twice a day, and a even a quick tongue cleaning after lunch to remove any trapped food debris. Remember, once the bacterial colony has formed they are protected from mouthwash and even some antibiotic. |
Dr. Speiser's Cleaning Protocol
My cleaning protocol involves using a non foaming tongue gel (KForce Tongue Gel) and brushing this into the tongue surface for 60 seconds. It is best to do this with either an extra-soft toothbrush or an orabrush. Next you take a tongue cleaner and scrape all of this gel from the tongue surface. Then repeat the tongue cleaning process again. After this, clean your teeth with a non foaming toothpaste (KForce Toothpaste) and you must floss (preferably with a non shredding dental tape such as Periotape). Twice a week I recommend adding a mild alkaline rinse(KForce Balance Rinse) as the first cleaning step before the tongue cleaning to help control any bacteria you are not able to manually clean away.
Always finish your mouth cleaning protocol with a mouth probiotic such as KForce Breath Guard with K12 or KForce Oral Guard with M18. You can view all these products in our KForce Plus Kit. |
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Periodontal Disease. This is the cause of the loss of bone under the gums around the teeth. This bone loss provides a gap that becomes home to many pathogenic and bad breath bacteria. The deeper the gap, the more bacteria can live in the crevice. These bacteria create a protective biofilm to stop themselves being killed by mouthwash or antibiotics. The only way to rid yourself of them is to clean them out of the pocket every twelve hours. If you do not floss your teeth twice a day. If your gums bleed when you clean or floss (even one small drop). If the floss smells when you pass it between your teeth. Then these are all signs of bacteria biofilm. |
Periodontal Disease smells like "Poo Breath"
Periodontal disease is the number one cause of "Poo Breath". In people up to thirty years of age generally they may have gingivitis, but over this age people tend to get periodontitis, which is the more severe form of the disease. If your problem is the more serious form, or periodontitis, then you need professional intervention by a dentist or gum specialist. The reason periodontal disease causes "poo breath", is because these anaerobic bacteria release a Volatile Sulphur Compound called Methyl Mercaptan. Methyl Mercaptan not only has this distinctive smell, but it is also toxic to mouth tissue and can accelerate the gum problem. Methyl Mercaptan is probably the most offensive of all the bad breath smells. It is also responsible for the old wives tale that bad breath comes from the stomach or gut, due to its odour.
The KForce Plus Kit contains all the products we recommended to tackle "poo breath". Even if you need to see a gum specialist you should still use the kit to get your breath down to a respectable non offensive level. |
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Nasal or Throat Mucous Issues. The next biggest cause of bad breath. The mucous that collects at the back of the throat is protein rich. The amino acids are broken down to dimethyl sulphide which has a cabbage or gasoline type of smell. Some of this mucous drips into the mouth and that part is broken down to Methyl Mercaptan or faeces smell. If you feel you have to clear your throat. If you feel you have a lump in your throat. If you cough up little white stones called tonsil stones. If you easily get a hoarse voice. These are all signs of excess mucous collection at the back of the throat or at the mouth gag reflex. |
Two Things You Must Do To Treat Post Nasal Drip
You need to remember that mucous drips down the windpipe or throat all day long. Generally the body can clear mucous buildup. but if the drip is excessive, or you drink alcohol or take other drying agents. Then the mucous can thicken and stick to the throat and gag reflex.
Firstly you need to clean inside the mouth as described above in our cleaning protocol to get to all the bacteria and mucous collecting on the gag reflex line. You use KForce Plus for this. Then you need to use a hypertonic nasal flush to clean the mucous from the back of the throat. I recommend a pressure spray called Sinoclear. This pressure pack saline flush is sterile saline without preservatives that may irritate the nasal lining, and also it is balanced to the correct pH. |
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