One in every four adults has bad breath. So if you've been having issues with foul smelling breath, you're not in the club on your own. However, you can turn in your membership. There are a number of often overlooked factors that lead to issues with bad breath. As soon as you learn what these mistakes are, you can avoid them and keep your breath fresher.

Mouth Breathing

If you typically breathe through your mouth, this could also be to blame. When you breathe out of your mouth, this causes the saliva to evaporate, and you're left with a dry mouth. Saliva helps wash away food particles, which contribute to foul odors. In addition to a bad smell, people with dry mouth often have an increased risk of tooth decay.

When you notice that you're breathing out of your mouth, try to consciously close your mouth and breathe through your nose. It might even be worth it to speak with your dental provider, as there could be some other issue causing you to breathe through your mouth.

Ignoring Allergies

Mucus is basically a debris blocker. In the nose, it works by trapping harmful particles so that they can't enter into your body. In moderation, it's great. However, when you suffer from uncontrolled allergies, you can start to produce too much mucus. The excess mucus generally ends up rolling down the back of your throat.

As the mucus travels inside your mouth, so do the trapped particles. They eventually settle in your mouth, where they interact with the existing bacteria and cause bad breath. Taking a daily allergy medicine or other treatment can prevent an overproduction of mucus and resolve your issue.

Failing To Eat

On a quest to lose weight in a hurry? Don't skip meals. First, skipping meals is unhealthy and can actually keep you from reaching your weight loss goals. However, when it comes to oral hygiene, when you don't eat, the rate at which your mouth produces saliva is reduced. As previously explained, a lack of saliva directly contributes to bad smelling breathe.

Saliva also helps facilitate the process of breaking down food before it reaches your stomach so that it can easily be digested. When it takes food a long time to digest, this can produce a foul smelling gas that can also contribute to your bad breath.

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