Rid Yourself of Morning Bad Breath
Probably you’ve seen the bad breath commercial in which the happy couple wake up at the same time and start to kiss, only to draw back in disgust, simultaneously saying “Ewww! Morning breath!”
Morning bad breath really is not inevitable, but it is nearly universal. The epidemiologists tell us that there’s a 1 in 2 chance that anyone reading this article woke up with morning breath this very morning. And brushing your teeth before you went bed last night probably did not help.
What Is Morning Breath?
What is morning breath? Assuming we don’t sleepwalk and make onion and Limburger sandwiches, why should we wake up with bad breath if we smelled nice when we went to bed.
There is a two-part answer. One part of the answer is that the smell you experience comes from the presence of bacteria in your mouth. Bacteria feed off things, just like we do. They take dead tissue and mucus and other “oral debris” in your mouth and consume them.
The waste product from this consumption is something called volatile sulfur compounds – or VSCs. These VSCs produce that foul odor that is so common in the mornings.
The other part of the answer concerns where bad breath bacteria are active when they cause morning breath. Morning breath is not caused by bacteria on the surfaces of the teeth. It is not caused by bacteria that are active on the gums.
Morning breath is caused by bacteria on the tongue. And since we don’t always have the same number of bacteria on our tongues, we don’t always have morning breath.
Why Does the Tongue Accumulate Bacteria Some Times and Not Others?
The bad breath bacteria always releases the gases that cause morning breath, but they do not always release enough of these gases for bad breath to be noticeable. When there are fewer bacteria on the tongue, there is less morning breath. But when are there fewer bacteria on the tongue?
Let’s suppose your last meal of the day was soup, mashed potatoes, and pudding. These foods slide right over the tongue and into your stomach, without removing many bacteria as they pass.
Now let’s suppose your last meal of the day was crusty bread used to make a sandwich followed by some kind of fiber-rich fruit, like apples or pineapple. These foods pick up part of the film of bacteria on the tongue as they slide over it on their way to the stomach. They reduce morning breath.
While your choices in food do make a difference in whether you will have morning breath the next day, that doesn’t mean you need to start living on crackers and chips and unpeeled crustaceans. There are other things you can do to get bacteria off your tongue.
Stop Morning Breath By Scraping (or Brushing) Your Tongue
The best way to stop morning breath is by scraping your tongue. It’s really critical that you don’t scrape your tongue too vigorously.
Just as bacteria on your gums can get into your bloodstream and cause cardiovascular infections, bacteria on your tongue can get into your bloodstream and cause cardiovascular infections, if you scrape your tongue raw. The objective in tongue scraping is not to remove tongue tissue. It is to remove the gray or yellow film on the tongue that holds the bacteria in place.
That’s why we don’t recommend you use a stainless steel tongue scraper any more. Too many people start scraping too hard. It’s better to use a plastic tongue scraper or even a toothbrush to remove film from the tongue to stop bad breath
How Fast Can You Expect Results from Tongue Scraping?
You won’t get rid of the film of bacteria that coats your tongue in one day, or even in one week. It usually takes about a month of scraping the tongue two or three times a week to make a sniffable difference.
Moreover, women sometimes experience growth in tongue tissue in sync with their menstrual cycles. During the second half of a woman’s period, tongue tissue hardens and flakes, first giving bad breath bacteria a chance to multiply without being rinsed or scraped away, and then releasing them so they can cause bad breath. Women of reproductive age are more likely to have morning breath just after ovulation, and need to pay special attention to oral care at this time.
It’s Still Necessary to Brush
Even though brushing is not enough to stop morning breath, you should also brush your teeth regularly, to maintain the integrity of your teeth – specifically the protective enamel that covers them. This is particularly important if you have a diet that is high in sugar.
Once cavities form, bacteria can gather and form in your teeth, causing odor and that annoying smell we all hate in the morning. Brushing your teeth at least twice or better three times a day, preferably after every meal, is important to hygiene and oral health.
Choices and food and drink also can make a difference in controlling morning breath—but it’s primarily choices that affect your tongue that make the most difference. Strong alcoholic beverages can damage the lining of the tongue and create morning breath. Banana daiquiris contain a unique combination of allergenic substances that can cause some drinkers to have morning breath. Hot coffee, hot tea, and hot food can damage the tongue and the lining of the mouth, killing tissues, and releasing proteins that feed bad breath bacteria.
