Depending on its severity, gum disease can make you feel miserable or it can even go completely unnoticed. However, one problem that most people with gum disease develop is bad breath. Bad breath might seem like a problem with not brushing your teeth enough or needing to scrape your tongue, but in reality, gum disease is often at fault. Here's three reasons why stinky breath comes with gum disease.
Broken-Down, Trapped Food
Most people don't floss their teeth, and that's often one of the causes behind gum disease. When you don't floss, food can build up between your teeth, where it nestles against the gums and can trigger gum disease.
If you continue to not floss, this leftover food from what you eat everyday can begin to break down while held between your teeth. Alternatively, it may actually be stuck under the edge of your gums. While being held there, it will smell bad, just like food left out for too long would.
Overgrown Bacteria
Gum disease goes hand in hand with bacteria. Bacteria are part of what leads to gum disease, and once gum disease develops, bacteria gain a place to create more bacteria.
Believe it or not, bacteria are often responsible for bad smells. The bacteria in your mouth may be causing your bad breath. This is why using something like mouthwash that kills a large number of bacteria can help to temporarily stop or reduce bad breath. However, without having your gum disease treated, those bacteria will come back, and you'll end up with stinky breath a few hours later. In some cases, mouthwash can actually dry out your mouth, which may make things even worse by allowing sticky plaque to develop, which can contribute to gum disease.
Discharge
In the more advanced stages of gum disease, your gums may bleed or even produce small amounts of discharge. This discharge is typically dead white blood cells that have been fighting the bacteria that are overwhelming your gums. Unfortunately, this discharge can smell bad. Brushing it away will eliminate this smell, but without improving the health of your gums, it will happen again.
If having pleasant breath is important to you, it's important to keep your gums healthy. Your gums are linked to the health and well-being of your entire mouth, so don't skip flossing and make sure to visit a dentist, like those at Sun Dental, if you think your bad breath is due to gum disease.
