What has the word ‘unprecedented’ meant to you in the last year? Among major life displacements and alterations amid the COVID-19 crises, the one thing that we had to adapt to, was the concept of only stepping out with our masks on. This was a huge adjustment, but now that the world has changed around us, the mask has become the new t-shirt of today.
With a flood of variants of masks online, people are going all out in getting masks that they think might work best in protecting them from the highly contagious COVID-19 virus. However, in doing so, a downside that people have noticed while wearing masks, is the fact, that we have bad breath more often. Masks that are usually not breathable cause this problem. With a mask that restricts the airway, there is a tendency for your mouth to start stinking, your saliva tends to dry quickly as well, another factor that causes terrible breath.
But don’t worry, you’re not alone. Over 80 million people around the world suffer from chronic bad breath and countless more people suffer from a milder version of the condition according to the Academy of General Dentistry.
To avoid this problem, you can instead shield yourself with the Hi Life multi-layered protective mask. It has a total of 5 layers of protection. In fact, breathing will seem seamless with this mask that uses high-end technology for its construction. For this mask, the outermost and innermost layers are non-woven to keep the fabric soft and skin-friendly. This is followed by 2 meltblown layers for enhanced protection against bacteria and viruses. Finally, there is also a hot wind filter layer to enhance the filtration of minute particles that may get missed. Despite the five layers, the mask is feather-light and breathable.
It also keeps the dust, smog, and pollen away. Wearing the Hi Life protective mask is so straightforward and effortless that you’ll even forget that you are wearing a mask at all. This means, your mouth won’t be on double duty to compensate for less oxygen when you wear the mask.
However, this alone is not the only factor that contributes to stinking breath, there are other factors that, in addition, make your breath fouler. (called halitosis) These include:
1. You’re Brushing The Wrong Way
It is fairly obvious that if you don’t brush daily and hit the bed with food trapped between your teeth, bacteria will find its way inside those nooks and crannies quickly and you’ll end up with bad breath, not just that, you might even get cavities. So, how can you tell you have bad breath? Use floss and then smell it, if it stinks, you do have bad breath. While a mouthwash and mints might be effective in masking the bad breath, it’s only temporary and doesn’t rid you of the bacteria.
2. You Ate Something With A Pungent Odour
It could range from coffee, garlic, fish to eggs, or even onion. Haven’t you heard the phrase, “Her breath reeks of garlic” this happens when you eat something with a pungent odour, and that odour settles inside the mouth. These foods also release sulfides. Sulfur from your chemistry class from school, as you may recall, smells like rotten eggs.
According to the Academy of General Dentistry, the allyl methyl sulfide from foods like coffee, onions, and garlic cling to your bloodstream only to be expelled via the breath post 72 hours of consumption. How to fight this? Rely on foods like lemons, parsley, apples, or carrots. These foods stimulate saliva production that can help nix these impurities faster. You can even drink water to flush the toxins out.
3. You Have A Sweet Tooth
Eating sweet delish food can be cathartic but can also have adverse effects on your body. Aside from the obvious health risks, sugar enables the bacteria inside the mouth that leads to bad breath. This is perhaps the reason why all dentists can’t stop telling you to stay away from sweets and candies. Tone down your sugar consumption if it’s on an all-time high and introduce healthier alternatives instead.
4. You’re Avoiding The Carbs
You’re probably on a diet and eating a lot more protein and significantly fewer carbs. This is consistent with a keto diet, here the body goes into ketosis wherein your body starts burning fat cells for energy consumption. With this diet, your body also produces ketones as waste. These can be extremely foul-smelling and are pushed out by your body through urine and bad breath. On such a diet, water is key to flushing the residue out. Using mints comes in handy too.
5. You’re Breathing From Your Mouth
When you’re sleeping at night, the mouth isn’t producing as much saliva. This is why you wake up, you deal with the ‘morning breath’. In fact, mouth breathing or snoring further dries up the mouth, making your breath even worse. Wearing a non-breathable mask for a longer duration can also do that. The only solution to this is maintaining your brushing routine and drinking water before you sleep and getting a mask that doesn’t leave you panting and catching your breath every few minutes.
A tonne of your regular over-the-counter meds can quickly dry out your mouth. These meds are used to treat symptoms of anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, pain, and muscle tension. A smart way to deal with this is to simply check the side effects and if the drying of the mouth is on it, then switch to another medicine that does not have this side-effect.
7. You’re Prone To Allergies
Maybe a sinus infection or seasonal flu or even a stuffy nose, these are all conditions that force you to breathe from your mouth. This dries out tissues and reduces saliva flow. If you’re prone to allergies, the days when you’re worst affected, your breath can be impacted as well. In fact, even prescription medicines and lozenges can dry up the back of the throat. A good way to get rid of the post-cold stink is by taking the tongue scraper at the back of your throat and scraping thoroughly.
8. You’re Probably Smoking Regularly
If you smoke regularly, you’ll have a fair idea of how the tobacco odour clings to your clothes, things around you, and more importantly, your breath. Here’s the thing, taking in hot fumes affects your senses and further lowering your sensory ability to smell and taste. Inhaling the smoke air also dries your mouth. The secret to a smoker’s breath is a combination of the tobacco’s odour and active saliva depletion. The solution: actively cut back on those smokes.9. Too Much Alcohol
Alcohol tends to make your mouth dry. Yes, all wine cravings, beer binges, cocktail sessions can affect your breath. More importantly, wine and cocktail mixers have grams of added sugar that contribute to a stinking mouth. Instead, fight back the urge of a sweet tooth by carrying sugar-free soda instead. Also, for a night of drinking that you can’t avoid, keep drinking water and carry floss in your bag.
This is one awesome post.Really looking forward to read more. Much obliged.