Bad Breath: Rotten Egg Smell & How to Fix It

[phospholine1]

My boyfriend's breath smells like rotten eggs within 10 minutes after brushing his teeth. Why? and how can he fix it?

 

[Monique]

He should brush the back of his tongue, that is where sulfur-producing bacteria can reside that give rise to a bad breath. Don't brush too hard, you can damage the surface of the tongue giving the bacteria a better chance to settle, do it mildly. Combine it with some mouth-water like lysterine. Chewing sugar free gum during the day will increase saliva flow, creating a better environment in the mouth to combat bacteria.

 

[phospholine1]

Thanks Monique!

 

[dleacock]

flossing also helps to I find, I had the same problem.


dleacock

 

[Mk]

What about the little crack going laterally down your tongue? I open it up and found a bunch of yellow, furry, fungus-like stuff. Probably bacteria populations.

 

[Drimar]

What about the little crack going laterally down your tongue? I open it up and found a bunch of yellow, furry, fungus-like stuff. Probably bacteria populations.

did you try smellingit ?

 

[Moonbear]

Two other things to consider: he should see a dentist to make sure it's not due to gum disease or anything else that requires treatment, and if he gets a clean bill of health from the dentist, then also check with a regular physician; things like postnasal drips can also cause bad breath and may need to be treated if they are bad enough to be problematic.

http://www.ada.org/public/topics/bad_breath.asp

 

[dleacock]

if I could just jump in again with another tip, because, I used to (or at least I felt like I used to) have really bad breath, at least I always had a bad taste in my mouth. I solved it by...

1) Plax for 30 sec
2) floss
3) brush with toothpaste (including brushing the touge), rinse
4) brush w/o toothpaste, rinse
5) listerine

this combination, in this order seemed to really lay waste to that nasty bacteria

 

[Mk]

Wow! Your dental regime is hardcore. Plax and Listerine! Why the plax first? Why the floss before brushing?

 

[cepheid]

Two other things to consider: he should see a dentist to make sure it's not due to gum disease or anything else that requires treatment, and if he gets a clean bill of health from the dentist, then also check with a regular physician; things like postnasal drips can also cause bad breath and may need to be treated if they are bad enough to be problematic.

http://www.ada.org/public/topics/bad_breath.asp

Can you elaborate on what might be done about the postnasal drip? I have this problem. Not to gross everyone out, but every morning my mouth feels quite "unfresh" due to this presence of mucous in the mouth/throat, that doesn't seem to go away. Brushing (the tongue too) helps for a short while, but not throughout the day.

 

[Moonbear]

Can you elaborate on what might be done about the postnasal drip? I have this problem. Not to gross everyone out, but every morning my mouth feels quite "unfresh" due to this presence of mucous in the mouth/throat, that doesn't seem to go away. Brushing (the tongue too) helps for a short while, but not throughout the day.

I didn't say I knew what to do about it, just that it can cause the problem. I always thought antihistamines were the solution to post-nasal drip, but the ADA website said that isn't the best solution because then you wind up with bad breath from too little saliva production (the antihistamines dry up both mucous and saliva). I guess you could ask your doctor about your options. It might be a matter of determining what it is that you're allergic to that causes the post-nasal drip and either avoiding it or getting allergy shots if it's enough of a problem to bother you.

 

[dleacock]

Wow! Your dental regime is hardcore. Plax and Listerine! Why the plax first? Why the floss before brushing?

haha yeah, i know. I am super paranoid about having bad breath though.

the plax breaks/losesn up the plaque to make it easier to floss everything, then I brush the remainder away (the new pulsar brush by oral b is by far the best toothbrush out there), then listereine is like the hydrogen bomb that kills any survivors.

its what works best for me, takes only a couple minutes. I just know that if I just brush and use listerine, a couple minutes after I get this bad taste in my mouth. So I have to go Green Beret on my teeth.