Plaque on the tongue can cause bad breath where bacteria can grow. If you do not clean your mouth after consuming alcoholic drinks, tobacco chewing, cigarette smoking, and foods like onions, garlic, etc. it can contribute to bad breadth. A deficiency of vitamin B and/or zinc may also become the cause of your bad breath.

Millions of people suffer with embarrassing bad breath. Bad breath usually originates from one of two sources, namely through certain foods that we eat or by bacteria in our mouths that feed on leftover food particles. We eat a meal and then suffer with embarrassing bad breath later.

The culprits - certain foods like garlic and cabbage, which contain sulfur compounds. When liberated these sulfur compounds cause breath to smell bad. This liberation of sulfur compounds occurs as foods are digested. The sulfur compounds are absorbed from the digestive system into the bloodstream and carried to the lungs. Here they are eliminated by the lungs in the air that we exhale giving us bad breath!

Ways to remove bad breath

We can remove bad breath through one option that is to avoid the foods that cause bad breath such as cabbage and onions. Alternatively, you can use one of several new products on the market, which attack and neutralize the sulfur compounds while they are in the blood. Bacteria feed on bits of food left on teeth after meals.

Ungrateful guests, these bacteria create volatile sulfur compounds as a result of their feasting. These volatile sulfur compounds give breath its foul odor. Oxygen is fatal to many of these bacteria. To escape, these bacteria hide in places where oxygen cannot reach - under plaque and food debris, in the spaces between the teeth and gums, and in the deep crevices of the tongue.

Saliva and other symptoms

Dieting, fasting, or talking for long periods of time reduce saliva flow and contribute to bad breath. Certain medications, alcohol consumption, and breathing through the nose during exercise also dry the mouth contributing to the problem. Saliva flow increases when we eat or drink. If you are dieting, fasting, or talking for long periods drink water to stimulate saliva flow and moisten your mouth.

The water will also wash away food and bacteria that contribute to bad breath. Placing a drop of lemon juice on the tip of your tongue or chewing sugarless gum also stimulates saliva flow. Other symptoms associated with periodontal disease includes, Swollen or bleeding gums, tender gums, Loosening and shifting teeth, Sensitive teeth and pain while chewing.