Everyone wakes up with morning breath, but some people have it worse than others. Why is that? Your Ocala dentist is here to explain all about it—and how to improve it if you have dragon breath each time you get up in the morning.
1. You skipped your dental routine last night.
If you skip brushing or flossing at any time, the food particles and bacteria will linger around your mouth—especially if you don’t brush or floss before you go to bed. Regularly neglecting your oral care routine can also lead to gum disease, one of the dental concerns that causes chronic halitosis.
2. Your mouth produces less saliva when you sleep.
Typically, our mouths produce plenty of saliva to help wash away bad bacteria. But when our bodies signal it’s time to sleep, it will slow down the natural production of saliva, causing bad breath in the morning from the lingering debris.
3. You have chronic dry mouth.
Your body is already producing less saliva during the day, and that amount of saliva goes down even further at night. Try drinking water before you go to bed to ensure you don’t have too dry of a mouth—especially if you sleep with your mouth open.
4. You’re a tobacco user.
Smoking tobacco can contribute to morning breath in many ways. Primarily, it causes your saliva to dry up, which leads to all the consequences of dry mouth mentioned earlier. Secondly, it can increase the temperature in your mouth, heating up the bacteria believe it or not. Finally, smoking cigarettes greatly increases the risk of gum disease, another cause of chronic bad breath.
5. You’re not feeling your best.
When you’re under the weather, your body will try to combat it with mucus and other defensive systems. Whether it’s because of allergies or sickness—that mucus will find its way into the back of your throat while you sleep and cause a nasty smell. The combination of mucus, bacteria, and food will create a distasteful odor that will make you want to brush your teeth as soon as you wake up.
If you need help fighting bad breath—whether you have it worse in the morning or throughout the day—your dentist is here to help!
About Our Office
You probably can’t get rid of morning breath altogether, but exceptional dental care will definitely help. If you brush, floss, and visit our local office every 6 months as you’re supposed to, you can be one less patient with unbearable, offensive breath—just regular stinky morning breath. If it helps, you’re not the only one! Everyone has bad breath in the morning, just work with your dentist to remove as much bacteria as possible for the freshest breath.