There are only a few days left to go home for the Chinese New Year. Whether voluntary or forced, blind dates are a must for almost all single young men and women of the right age. Apart from choosing the right place, ordering the right food, wearing the right clothes and talking, the next problem may need to be paid special attention to: halitosis.
Halitosis, a subtle term, is the unpleasant smell emitted from the mouth as its name implies. Although halitosis is invisible and painless, it is a major health problem and deserves our attention.
Do you have bad breath? Test yourself
Do you also have doubts about yourself when you see here?
You can simply test yourself: cover your nose and mouth with both hands, just like you need to breathe to keep warm when your hands are frozen in winter, breathe hard into the palm of your hand, and then smell your palm.
Or, like trying perfume, stick out your wrist, use the middle part of your tongue, pay attention not to the tip of your tongue, lick your wrist, and then smell your wrist when saliva volatilizes.
If the smell is already a little wrong, then it is very likely that you have a tone problem. However, more often than not, the self-evaluation is not as good as that of others. It is better to find a friend or relative who can make friends and ask openly.
What should I do with halitosis?
Is it possible to solve the problem like [take one piece, chew it] or [take one bite, rinse it] in the advertisement? If you want to solve the problem of halitosis, you still need to try your best to eliminate it from the root. The whitewash of fresheners is not a long-term solution.
If you want to eradicate halitosis, you must first find the cause, which is often the most difficult. Because:
Bacteria: The oral cavity itself because of its complex structure and multi-bacteria, humid environment, it is easier to breed peculiar smell. Location is important: oral cavity is also the common portal of respiratory tract and digestive tract, so breath is also closely related to the pathological changes of these body parts.
Therefore, we need to find out the cause of halitosis from the outside to the inside, from simple to complicated. First, we should consider the problems of the oral cavity itself, and second, we should consider the manifestations of non-oral diseases.
If you want to have a fresh breath, the first thing is to maintain oral hygiene.
Is oral hygiene what?
This [oral hygiene] includes two meanings.
1. Reduce bacterial colonization in the oral cavity
This can not only reduce halitosis, but also prevent dental caries and periodontitis.
Bacteria in the oral cavity mainly exist in the form of biofilm. Every time you use up dental floss, the soft dirt with special [sour and refreshing] taste on the dental floss is the bacterial biofilm scraped off. It must be removed mechanically. Toothbrushes and dental floss are king.
When brushing your teeth, you should not only brush your teeth and surrounding gums, but also brush the back of your tongue a few times at last, because your tongue is also the hardest hit area for bacteria colonization. Moreover, there are manufacturers who specially design and produce [tongue brushes] for everyone to choose from. (Do you want to brush your tongue when brushing your teeth? -Click View)
2. Remove food residues from the mouth
On the one hand, this can stop providing nutrients to bacteria; On the other hand, if these foods are fermented and rotten in the mouth, the taste can also be imagined.
This concept of [food residue] is broad, not only refers to tangible residues such as shredded meat, vegetable leaves and rice grains, but also includes intangible [residues] such as sugar and starch.
Therefore, we suggest:
(1) Eat less snacks, drink less beverages, and form the habit of rinsing with clear water after eating;
(2) You can use some mouthwash to refresh your breath, which has the functions of sterilization and fragrance. However, it is better to choose mouthwash with a non-alcohol formula, because many mouthwashes use alcohol as the solvent of the effective ingredient, and alcohol itself may cause breath problems.
(3) Quit smoking and limit alcohol consumption.
Dentist how helps you relieve halitosis?
Having said the daily self-care, let’s talk about the professional methods of dentists.
1. Filling-dental caries
Dental caries itself is the result of the long-term wreaking havoc of cariogenic microorganisms in the oral cavity. After the tooth cavity is formed, it has become a hotbed for bacteria to breed, which is also filled with food residues.
Many tooth cavities, once drilled by dentists, can smell very unpleasant smell through masks, and often can see the patient’s shy expression.
2. Tooth Washing-Periodontal Disease
In a healthy state, gums are tightly attached to teeth, toner is tough and not easy to bleed. However, once periodontitis occurs due to poor oral hygiene, gums will be hyperemia, swelling and separated from teeth.
This gap is called [periodontal pocket], which will also produce a large number of bacteria and produce peculiar smell.
Moreover, the gum texture becomes brittle and easy to bleed, and the smell of blood aggravates the breath.
If periodontitis develops further, pus will be produced in the periodontal pocket and even periodontal abscess will occur. I don’t want to describe the taste of pus, and I believe everyone doesn’t want to hear it.
3. Extraction-Wisdom Teeth
Because the wisdom tooth is too deep in position, it is difficult to thoroughly clean it by conventional oral care such as brushing teeth at ordinary times, which often leads to the formation of a complex of various oral problems around the wisdom tooth: perennial plug between the wisdom tooth and the front molar, soft dirt hanging on the wisdom tooth, large and small cavities, and repeated swelling of the surrounding gums…
Clinically, [excellent wisdom teeth] that can completely avoid the above points are not very common, so most wisdom teeth are better removed.
Halitosis may also be a manifestation of non-oral diseases.
The above points are oral problems related to breath. If these problems are solved after being treated by dentists, but halitosis still exists, then it needs to be considered deep in respiratory tract and digestive tract.
Related diseases are rhinitis, sinusitis, pharyngitis and digestive problems in turn. In addition, there are also some systemic diseases that cause the gas exhaled through the lungs to have some special odors, such as severe diabetes, liver and kidney problems, etc.
If these problems are suspected, otolaryngology and internal medicine are required.
Editor: Fei Fei
Author: Xu Tongkai
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