covid may have reduced my bb?

[ruch]

About a month ago, I had my first bout of covid which lasted about a week (I have 4 vaccines/boosters in me, including a bivalent one!). It was a "mild" case but I felt like total crap around days 3-4 before I started to feel better. It felt like a really severe cold. Towards the end, I also lost my sense of taste and smell. That did gradually come back slowly and I feel like I have 100% of it back for the last 1.5 weeks or so. The interesting thing is that even though my sense of taste and smell returned, I feel like my bb has improved. I need to double check with someone though, which I have not done. At first I thought it was just because I could not detect it since I had lost my sense of smell but when it came back, it still seems to be the case. Anyway, I notice I don't get bad morning breath anymore either and my breath is fresh after simply brushing my teeth (though I still use my Smartmouth and chlorhexidine rinses). Even when I ate raw onions and had coffee, my breath was "bad" only like the average person's. Anyway, we will see how long this lasts (I don't have a lot of faith it will last since I have suffered from bb for the last 20+ years now), but it seems that maybe covid affected my oral flora? Has anyone else had this happen to them, whether temporarily or not?

p.s. I don't suggest trying to get covid as a way to get rid of your bb though!

p.p.s. I should mention though that today is the first day where I can detect some (but still not bad like before, and I did not feel I had my usual terrible morning breath either when I woke up). I was on a trip for 2 weeks and only brought chlorhexidine rinse with me since the stupid Smartmouth bottle is not travel friendly. Chlorhexidine does work a lot better to reduce bb than SM does but is not good for everyday use since it stains the teeth and can also affect your good bacteria, etc. I usually only use it 2 days/week and use SM in between. Since I am home from my trip now, I have been returning to using SM. Yesterday was a very long travel day (bus and airplanes) and I was unable to brush my teeth all day (aside from when waking up), and you know how bad that can be for breeding more bacteria in your mouth. By the time I got home, my breath was definitely worse since I could not brush or rinse at all during my transit home and I wonder if that allowed more to populate in my mouth and that is why today it feels less fresh than it has all month. Anyway, I guess we will see what happens...

[Ade]

Thanks for sharing, that’s interesting, the opposite happened to me. I got Covid in January last year and also lost my sense of taste and smell. By the time things got back to normal I went from a 5 out of 10 bb to an 8 out of 10. Perhaps covid does affect your oral bacteria, for me it just made it worse.

[ruch]

I'm sorry it got worse for you! I am not too excited yet just because this may be temporary, or I just can't detect it in myself. Right now I can notice some, but it's also because I have not brushed my teeth yet after eating and have not used any rinses yet today. I usually still need to use a rinse of some sort to help tone it down.