San Francisco, Marin, and Oakland, CA
Bad breath occasionally occurs after eating onions and garlic or waking up in the morning. However, when you recognize that you consistently have bad breath, no matter how much you brush your teeth, use mouthwash, or eat mints and chew gum to freshen up, there may be an underlying issue. Our Bay Area family dentists at Glen Park Dental share on the blog today how chronic bad breath can signal something dangerous for your health and what treatments are available.
What’s causing my chronic bad breath?
Bacteria in your mouth consume sugars and excrete acids that cause bad breath. Our Marin family dentists explain that when you fail to brush your teeth, the bacteria build-up may lead to gingivitis or inflammation in your gums. Then, as bacteria attach to the teeth, your immune system reacts by releasing substances to fight off the invaders, so your gums become inflamed and sore. When left untreated, the condition can advance to gum disease, which is the stage where your gums recede and increase your risk for bacteria to seep below the gum line. Once there, bacteria attacks connective tissues and bone, which may result in loose teeth or an overall health threat when it enters your bloodstream.
What are the periodontal disease symptoms?
Once your condition progresses into gum disease, the next stage is periodontal disease. Our family dentists in Oakland explain that periodontal disease is an advanced incurable gum disease stage that severely damages your teeth, gums, and jaw bone. For example, if you experience chronic bad breath, you may be at the periodontal disease stage. In addition to bad breath, you may experience a bad taste in your mouth, feel like you need to drink more water, or notice your favorite foods are no longer appetizing.
Additional periodontal disease symptoms are listed below:
- Noticeable teeth shifting
- Sensitivity while chewing
- Bleeding while brushing or flossing
- Teeth surface changes due to plaque
- Gums that are red or tender to the touch
How can I combat bad breath caused by periodontal disease?
Having bad breath that makes people back away from you can be highly embarrassing when you speak to them. Therefore, if you’ve noticed chronic lousy breath but are unsure why it occurs, you should visit our San Francisco family dental office for a checkup and cleaning. Unfortunately, over-the-counter breath control remedies fail to address the underlying issue of periodontal disease. So, no matter how often you brush your teeth or consume multiple breath mints, you may only notice a temporary break from bad breath until you receive a professional dental cleaning.
What may happen if I don’t seek dental treatment for my disease?
Avoiding treatment from the onset of gingivitis can be detrimental to your overall health and wellness. First, you may lose teeth as the periodontal pockets expand from inflammation, experience a painful infection or an abscess, or become unable to chew due to severe pain. Furthermore, you dramatically increase your cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, stroke, and diabetes risk. Moreover, pregnant women with periodontal disease may experience increased risks for preeclampsia, low birth weight babies, or preterm labor. Therefore, our Bay Area dentists who treat periodontal disease encourage you to schedule an appointment for a dental cleaning, no matter how severe your gum disease may be. It could extend your life or save it!
Gum Disease Treatment in Marin, Oakland, and San Francisco, California
Bad breath is an indicator that something is amiss in your mouth. In most cases, it’s the garlic-flooded Italian dish you had for dinner or the hot dog with onions you ate for lunch. Of course, brushing and a breath mint can combat most bad breath for those with occasional occurrences. Unfortunately, experiencing chronic bad breath with no reprieve from at-home oral care practices or oral control substances could mean you are on the brink of severe, permanent damage to your mouth. Therefore, when you notice bad breath that doesn’t go away, our San Francisco periodontal dentist can help. Contact Glen Park Dental at (415) 585-1500 or request a consultation online.
