There are approximately 20 billion bacteria in your mouth with the ability to reproduce every five hours. After 24 hours, those 20 billion can multiply into 100 billion as bacteria only need warmth, moisture, and a food source, such as the food particles in your mouth, to grow. Many of these bacteria cause odors in your mouth, especially the extra-resilient gram-negative bacteria, so it is important to know where they can live and how to get rid of them. Here are two locations odor-causing bacteria can live in your mouth and what you can do about them.
Fixed Prosthetic Teeth
When your dentist fits you with a crown or dental bridge, it is attached onto a fixed tooth structure with permanent dental cement. As you brush and floss around your permanent teeth, it is also important to brush and floss around your crowns and dental bridges.
Some people think that by flossing or cleaning around their fixed oral prosthesis, they are going to damage the cement, loosen the prosthesis, and cause it to fall out. The reverse is actually true in this situation. If you don't clean around the fittings of your fixed prosthetic teeth, food and plaque collects, allowing bacteria to grow. The bacteria, food, and plaque will break down and wash away the cement holding the prosthesis in place. As the prosthesis becomes loose, food will continue to collect and more bacteria will grow. Over time, the bacteria builds up and can cause a foul odor in your mouth.
When you have one or more fixed prosthetic teeth, it can be helpful to use several cleaning tools to remove the bacteria build-up. You can use a flossing needle to reach the floss around all sides of your crown or bridge. You can also buy an interdental brush, which has a smaller-sized head that can easily clean around your permanent dental prosthesis. This can clean out odor-causing gram-negative bacteria, such as Porphyromonas gingivalis that live in the gaps between your teeth and gums.
Visit a site like http://rosecitydental.com/ to learn more about bridges and other permanent solutions that might hinder your oral hygiene habits.
If you still have your tonsils, you need to be aware of a common cause of bad breath. Take a look inside your mouth to see if your tonsils have pits or crevices on their surface. These pits in your tonsils can be caused by repeated episodes of tonsillitis. They can also collect bacteria and other odorous debris.
Your tonsils are a lymph node that filter out bacteria and viruses, and they produce white blood cells and antibodies. These white blood cells will attack the debris stuck in your tonsils, leaving behind hard particles. These particles begin to form tonsil stones as more bacteria, food, old cells, and other debris from your mouth collect around them inside the tonsil crevices.
Tonsil stones can be white, yellow, or gray in color and can form and collect all throughout your tonsils. The accumulation of bacteria and other debris smell of sulfur and can give your breath a bad odor. A large build-up of tonsil stones in your tonsils can also make you feel as though something is caught in your throat or give you the feeling you have a mild sore throat.
There is no known permanent treatment for tonsil stones, other than removing your tonsils. These stones can come out on their own as you cough or sneeze, taking their odor with them. Or you can massage your tonsils with your toothbrush, cotton swab, water flosser, or other blunt instrument to remove them from your tonsils. You can also keep your mouth clean by brushing, flossing, and rinsing with an alcohol-free oral rinse every day.