Are you one of the many who suffer from chronic, severe bad breath?

Are you one of the many who suffer from chronic, severe bad breath, also known as halitosis? If so it's important to identify the cause so you can determine an effective treatment.

Bad breath is only known when a person reports whether or not they think they have bad breath or not, so there are no statistics on what percentage of the population has bad breath.

Bad breath order mostly comes from food particles trapped in your mouth. When particles of food remain in the mouth, it becomes a bacteria breeding ground and normally causes bad breath. Studies show that about 80% of bad breath comes from Poor oral health like cavities or gum disease along with improper cleaning of dentures. Periodontal disease as well as smoking & tobacco products can increase bad breath. Additionally bad breath can also be a sign of medical condition of the stomach, lungs and bloodstream.

Dry mouth also known as Xerostomia can also cause bad breath. When the mouth is dry, saliva production decreases, leaving the mouth’s natural ability to clean itself impaired.

Visiting your dentist every six months for a cleaning can help with bad breath. The key to fighting bad breath is good oral hygiene. Ideally, you should brush and floss after every meal to help reduce the odor-causing bacteria in your mouth.

Mouthwash and mouth rinse can also help prevent cavities and reduce bacteria causing plaque, as well as fighting bad breath. Stick to an antiseptic or antibacterial rinse that kills bacteria, rather than a cosmetic rinse that just focuses on freshening the breath.

Here’s some tip on how to prevent bad breath:

• Stay hydrated. Try to brush your teeth after every meal. If you can’t drinking a lot of water, it can help speed up the process of cleaning harmful bacteria and debris from between your teeth, avoid sugary drinks.
• Cut down on coffee. Coffee can be a hard smell to get off the back of your tongue, try to limit as much coffee intake as possible.
• Don't smoke or use other tobacco products. Cigarettes, pipes, and snuff can foul your breath. "Smoking can give people horrible breath," Woodall says. "And some people carry this stuff worse than others."
• Cut down on alcohol.  Try to limit the consumption of alcohol, not only does alcohol dry your mouth out, drinking too much alcohol can make your breath smell for up to 8-10 hours
• Chew sugarless gum. Try to chew gum 20 minutes after you finish a meal. Gum increases saliva and saliva is a mouths natural cleaning system.