Bad Breath Halitosis Forum

Like many I feel like I don’t even know where to start…

So when I was younger I was the most social personable little kid you can imagine… Up until I was about 10 or 11 I had no problems. One day I got this excruciating tooth ache. My grandma works for a dentist (ironic right) so I saw him to get it fixed. He gave me Novocain and started working on my tooth, I tried telling him that the pain was unbearable but he didn’t seem to care. Even as a child I had a very high pain tolerance so I know I wasn’t just being an annoying little kid. About mid-way through I just got up and walked out, I couldn’t stand the pain. Over time my breath started to smell which my grandma warned me about. In middle school I could actually survive a day with no one noticing my breath. By the time I reached 9th grade I came to the conclusion that I’ll need gum 24/7 to combat this problem. I did pretty well throughout high school with limited comments or reactions. For some reason it didn’t seem to really bother me until 11th grade. I realized that if this remains a problem I’ll never have a girlfriend, get married or be able to have kids. My sex life was actually pretty active considering my problem, but it was full of one night stands or late night drunk dials where there was never really any emotional connection. It hurts my heart so bad to know that even if I wanted a normal relationship I just couldn’t have it. I always played on sports teams which is a pretty difficult place to hide such a condition. I’ve somehow become a master at disguising it, whether it be situating myself where I don’t think people will smell it, directing my voice the opposite direction of people…or just really anything I’m sure you guys have done. I was a successful athlete and on the field it felt so good cause I never really thought about it. But after a good game the first thing I thought about was avoiding newspaper reporters, and people who want to congratulate me on a good game. What the ***k is wrong with me? What kind of kid wouldn’t want a quote in a newspaper or pretty girls telling them they played great? By the time I got to my senior year I knew I needed to try and solve this problem. I got my wisdom teeth removed, and the remains of my root canal from when I was a child was taken out. I thought I would be in the clear, but I didn’t get my hopes up. The day of my wisdom teeth removal I still had a bad taste in my mouth but I figured it might be because of the blood or other things related to my removal. A couple days later I still had the taste and I that’s when I started to get more depressed. I found out that the root canal had infected another tooth so I got so excited cause I figured I had pin-pointed the cause. I received a root canal on the tooth and I could smell the infection as the dentist drilled my tooth. Never have I been so happy to smell my own breath. I was so excited cause I thought this could be the last of my problems (problems being an understatement). That was pretty much the last of my hopes and I really started to feel down on my self. I go to a huge party school and I love to go out and have a good time, but recently I’ve been like some kind of hermit avoiding going out at any costs. I’m not myself anymore, I love being around people, talking, and just being a social person. I would give anything to be able to talk to a girl and look her in the eyes face to face, or just go to a bar and not think once about my breath. Nights that I go out I literally need a pack and a half of gum. Lately I’ve just been really sad, there’s girls I know are interested in me but I don’t want to get close to them for fear that I’ll be exposed. So much of human interaction is up close and I feel like a freak. At first I was happy when I found this forum but honestly I just feel way worse after reading some stories. It seems like no one has found a solution…I couldn’t imagine dealing with this for the rest of my life. The thought of that makes me want to kill myself. If anyone has any ideas for a solution please help.

Often times, I think there's no cure for me..but then i have faith, one day I'll "free" myself of this and you will too but as for your problem..i don't really know much about root canal's and the source of odour coming from your teeth. Maybe it's because food gets stuck somewhere in the gums and creates the smell? So practice flossing really well and using mouthwash. I would advise you to look around the site, and take in what other peoples solutions were when it came to wisdom teeth extraction....i hope that helped, even in a little way.

I always thought it was infection causing my bad breath but i recently went to the dentist and got everything I needed taken care of. It's going to be my new obsession to find a cure for this because it's become apparent that a simple call to my dentist won't do the trick (truly makes me depressed). I came across this article online and I'm hoping it can help us....

http://optics.org/cws/article/research/20867

Check it out

dude dont end it over this bb i also have bb im 16 in 11th grade but think somebodys going through something worse than bb

i didnt mean it like that...its just the thought of this being an ongoing problem makes me so angry and sad that words cant even describe

What the f''''k have i done to deserve this.
I'm getting depresed again i can't believe this.
Almost 27 years old and no effing education because of this shit no friends not even 1.
Tired of sitting behind this damn computer to find a cure.
Everybody is asking me when i'm finally going back to school and when i'm gonna start dating and i just don't know what to tell them.
I hate it when they ask those questions cause they know acacly why.
Anyway f'''''k this i'm going to brush my teeth and go to bed
hopefully i wake up with no bad breath.

I know exactly how you feel man. I literally woke up one day about 4 years ago with breath that smelled like a mixture of rotting diseased flesh and dirty laundry. I could actually smell it myself at first but as the days went on I gradually got used to the smell. I can still smell it sometimes, once in a while. When I fold my lips under my teeth and rub them back and forth I can smell a foul odor. When I rub my nose and breath through it I can smell and taste a foul odor. I always have a terrible taste in my mouth, especially when I wake up in the mourning. I feel like its coming from my esophogus.nothing helps. I can brush my teeth for five minutes and literally right after Im done I can rub my lips together and smell a foul odor. Gum is a joke. It only mixes with my breath to make a vile smelling conction of mint and malice. Ive tried almost everything. EXTENSIVE oral hygeine in the beginning, Nasal irrigation, different pill gimmicks, Therabreath, home remedies, diet alterations, tooth removal ( 2 wisdom and one moler that was a bad cavity). obviously nothing has worked. I have become somewhat of a recluse myself. When ever I hear mention of a social gathering I immediately think of my breath. Its such a hinderance. I dont like going to loud places like bars or parties because I know Ill have to either talk in close with people or not talk at all. I still go out but Im so uncomfortable. Im the guy in the corner that is by himself not socializing. It makes me depressed because I am funny and I know I would be so much more outgoing if I didnt have to drag around this ball and chain, this curse, everywhere I go. I have grown accustomed to hiding my deformity. I dont talk in peoples direction and I speak very softly. Try getting a girl when you speak softly in a different direction. Doesnt happen. Its not totally hopeless though, this cavernous abyss of ours. I had a girlfriend. You might even say we were in love. She was from brazil on a workers visa and she moved back never to be heard from again. The reason I was able to court her is because she spoke very poor english and whenever we would talk I would be able to poise myself before I spoke to her and turn away or lean back. The flow of conversation was very unnatural, unlike when talking to someone who speaks english fluentely. So I was able to converse with her in more of an indirect way. She would occationally say something like "I want a piece of gum" when we were making out or something. I knew she just wanted me to chew some and she was being polite. Maybe in brazil and other foriegn countries bad breath isnt so much of a stigma. so its a longshot but one could find love with bad breath. I am obsessed with bad breath. I always think about it. When I see two lovers talking closely in a movie or something I think to myself " I could never do that" or " I wonder if one of them has bad breath". Bad breath used to not even cross my mind. my bad breath isnt your run of the mill case. This is the beast. Nostradamos prophesized about this. When I see ordinary people that think they have bad breath I laugh inside while I pity myself. I think I have pin-pointed the genesis of my demise. There was (and is) a large amount of mold in my house. I think the mold infected me years ago and changed the bacterial make-up in my throat. It was also around the time when I started a diet and lost 25-35 pounds AND was taking amoxicylon for an inner-ear infection so its hard to say which of those was the contributor but I would bet it was one of them. I have no health insurance and am completely broke so seeing a doctor is out of the question. I just have to deal with it for now until I can afford to see an ENT. It recentely occured to me though that I might have to bare this burden for the rest of my life. say a prayer for me.

It's been a few weeks since I've posted on this site. I have been undergoing some positive changes in my condition so I thought I would wait and see before posting again, but after reading the despair in these posts, I wanted to take a moment to reassure people like yourself that a cure is not impossible. Many people on this forum have been cured through various methods. Some continue to return and post on a daily basis, offering advice to help you pinpoint the origin of your bb and possible solutions. Please stay away from thoughts about how you will have to endure BB for the rest of your life. With the emergence of the internet and its ways of aggregating medical information, we have access more so now than ever to a wealth of support and advice that can help us narrow down and treat the origins of our condition.

I am more optimistic now than I have been in a long time. In early December, I had my bottom wisdom teeth extracted (one of which was severely impacted). I had invested a lot of hope in this procedure because I would remember pulling out food debris from those areas while flossing and that these debris would smell absolutely putrid. I noticed a big improvement in the week following the extraction, but as my condition returned, I had attributed such as merely the result of the antibiotics I was taking. For the rest of the month, as well as most of January, I still suffered from pretty bad bb, albeit a little better than it was pre-extraction. During the month of January, I also took a weeks worth of the anti-fungal fluconazole (150mg a day x 8 days). The fluconazole made my breath seem worse and did not help (although some people have been cured by this if their BB is caused by candida [i.e. KeepTrying09]). A few weeks ago, I went to another dentist and inquired about the white coating on the back of my tongue, and she said that it was mucus and not candida, and that my esophagus (from what she could see, was vibrantly healthy).

I also suffer from severe, chronic, round-the-clock allergies. One of my nostrils is always clogged. The clogged passage will alternate; sometimes left, sometimes right. I had two sinus surgeries in the past, including an endoscopic polyp removal and one purported to correct a deviated septum. Both were to no avail. Anyways, the point is that I am forced to breathe through my mouth, which causes chronic xerostomia (dry mouth). There is not a second in the day where I could not go for a cold glass of water. My mouth remains dry even immediately after drinking fluids. I believe that my dry mouth, in combination with my impacted wisdom teeth, and the excess mucus dripping from my sinuses, created an ideally fertile environment for BB.

What am I doing now, and where am I at in regards to my BB? I have adopted a multi-pronged approach comprised of four different tactics:

A couple of weeks ago, I began to steam my sinuses on a daily basis. I boil a pot of hot water on the stove, pour a spoon of vinegar in the pot, turn the stove off, place a towel over my head, and inhale the vapors through my nostrils for about 5 minutes. I try to do this as often as possible or whenever I have time. This is said to liquify the thick mucus secretions that drip onto the back of the tongue in those who suffer from Post-Nasal Drip. The vinegar is supposed to be antibacterial and antifungal. I have also upped my fluid intake to at least 6 glasses of water a day. The whole point here is to liquify mucus secretions.

Secondly, I switched my toothpaste from a conventional one to one called "Tom's of Maine." This is an all natural, fluoride-free toothpaste that contains Xylitol (look this up). Xylitol is said to stimulate saliva, and destroy the halitosis causing bacteria by starving them to death. There is plenty of information about this on the net. After I brush my teeth with Tom's of Maine, I don't notice the bad after taste and extreme dry mouth that I used to experience with others. It's actually even a little invigorating.

Third, I purchased an OraBrush online. When I ordered mine, in a hurry, I hastily selected the option for 2 orabrushes for $7.99 or something. However, I believe they offer them for free (with exception to shipping cost) at www.orabrush.com/free. Believe me, this thing is no gimmick. It's 200% more effective than a toothbrush, or any other device for that matter, for scraping the tongue. It doesn't cause a gag reflex, and the soft bristles get all the gunk out (which you can then see on the square-shaped brush after you take it out of your mouth). Please give this a try, it was worked wonders for me.

Lastly, I have been consuming ridiculous amounts of yogurt on a daily basis. I eat a lot of it, in the morning and at night. There is plenty of research available on the internet on how great this is in regards to reducing the bad bacteria in the mouth. The key here is consistency. You can't just have yogurt one day and expect to change your oral bacterial make-up. You need to eat it everyday for a long period of time. The potential benefits of yogurt cannot be overstated. Please look this up.

Since I have adopted these strategies, I have noticed immense improvement. I don't know where I am going to be at a month from now, but I am staying positive, smart, and proactive in my search for a cure. I think that such an attitude is fundamental in finding a cure. My tongue today is in so much better shape, my mouth is so much more hydrated, and the bad taste in my mouth has reduced itself to a slight annoyance. Nonetheless, I still experience haliphobia, considering the fact that I have had BB for about 7 years. It's hard for me to talk close to people, even now. However, the reduction in reactions that I have been observing is very encouraging. I still try not to get too comfortable. When suffering from BB, it is important not to invest too much emotion and hope in a single cure, as the pain of the let down can be enormous. Therefore, I'm being cautious, yet optimistic, as I live day in and day out with this condition. Yet, I am still a much happier person than I was 2 months ago. I honestly believe, by the grace of God, that I will be cured by the end of this year.

terranpatriot wrote:Lastly, I have been consuming ridiculous amounts of yogurt on a daily basis. I eat a lot of it, in the morning and at night. There is plenty of research available on the internet on how great this is in regards to reducing the bad bacteria in the mouth. The key here is consistency. You can't just have yogurt one day and expect to change your oral bacterial make-up. You need to eat it everyday for a long period of time. The potential benefits of yogurt cannot be overstated. Please look this up.

I couldn't agree more with what you say about yogurt. There is a lot of research online that shows yogurt is very effective in preventing oral malodor. I even posted a thread about yogurt on this forum a couple months ago at viewtopic.php?t=2568

To anyone who wants to try yogurt, just make sure you get the plain natural yogurt with live active cultures. All of the processed yogurt that has tons of sugar, fruits, candies, etc. won't really help much.

Making your own yogurt at home would be the best option as it would be cheaper and you would know what you are getting. I believe you can buy starter cultures online for like $2 or $3. Actually I haven't started making my own yogurt yet, but I believe I'm going to start doing it soon as I have to travel all the way across town to get the yogurt I like, and it's a hassle to do that twice a week!

Hi, I have the same problem which seems to have originated with tooth problems. Many are looking for a cure for this. I am not sure I have one, but I think I know what the problem is. It is the grooves and pockets in gums that usually comes from impacted teeth. You said your imapction was corrected, but the problem may be that you sill have disfigured gums - gums with pockets where bacteria can grow and fester because they are not able to be rinsed out well, whether with saliva, water, or mouthwash. I have this problem, too: I can go over the grooves and pockets in my gums behind my molars with my tongue - and if I dig in them (with my tongue), I can let out what is hiding in them and it tastes and smells horrible.

The cure would seem to have to involve a reshaping of gums, a smoothing out of them. I feel like just slicing off the tops of my bottom gums (behind the molars) to get rid of the pockets. One time, on the worse side, my wisdom tooth must came up quite a bit, because it started to hurt more than it usually does when it does. That whole area became swollen and puffed up. It wasn't noiceable from without, but inside it felt like that area was a bubble ready to burst (and it hurt). But the good thing was that the pockets were blown out and the grooves were smoothed out, and I did not detect any bb, that is until the swelling went back down and the shape went back to normal, pockets and all.

If I had money to see an oral surgeon, I would ask him to see what he could do. There is a new laser instrument they use that slices very cleanly through gums (and even bone). Perhaps this could work. However, I don't think going to talk to a doctor for free advice would work, since it seems so many are in denial about halitosis even being a problem that anyone really suffers from or, at least, a dental problem (something they could help with).

Yeah that's one of the things I've narrowed my causes down to. I think it's called periodontal disease and u can see a specialist to have it fixed (seems to easy). I have actually been coughing up these little white chunks that literally smell like shit. So I think the cause of my bad breath is a combination of Periodontal disease and tonsil stones(the white chunks).

If it is just your tonsils, then you are lucky, since getting them removed is a well-known and common procedure. Hope it works for you - and with you coughing up those white, malordorous chunks, it sounds like your tonsils are, indeed, the problem in your case. See, life isn't so bad; the sad thing is that many people on these forums write about having removed their tonsils, to no avail, and are many years and many other failed treatments beyond the hope that it is something as straightforward as tonsillitis.

im really hoping its that easy but thats just my optimism...ill be a changed person if i can get this fixed, but im honestly not to hopeful...i was so excited to get my root canal cause i thought that would fix the problem but it didnt...after the procedure i felt a thousand times worse cause i honestly thought that it would fix my problem...so im not gonna get my hopes up just yet...another issue is paying for this whole deal

you probably did have an odor from your tooth that was resolved by your root canal. but if you have smelly chunks in your tonsils, that is probably what continues to give you bb. there may even be another source for bb besides your tonsils and former tooth. we'll see, but whatever your causes, they are all curable - even if you have to take care of them one at a time.