Alcohol Causes Bad Breath But Not For The Reasons You Think   Most people are familiar with ‘hangover halitosis’, the seriously nasty alcohol breath that occurs after a prolonged session on the booze. But even if you’re not a big binge drinker, alcohol could be contributing to your bad breath problem. You probably associate alcohol breath with either a hangover or the short term lingering effects of beer or wine breath, but it’s far more insidious than this. Alcohol and other lifestyle choices cause bad breath by promoting the growth of bacteria in your mouth that produce some decidedly unpleasant aromas.   Bacterial balance is the key to fresh breath By far the biggest contributor to the daily battle with bad breath is the volatile sulphur compounds produced by certain bacteria in your mouth. The levels of these bacteria determine the degree of bad breath you experience. Volatile sulphur compounds are the same substances responsible for the smell of rotten eggs. These halitosis-inducing bacteria should be kept in check by both good bacteria and substances in your saliva. Some people are lucky and are born with naturally high levels of good bacteria, which helps to keep bad breath in check. But your diet and lifestyle go a long way to influencing the type of bacteria that make their home in your mouth.   Alcohol promotes bad bacteria in your mouth Alcohol dries out and dehydrates your mouth, allowing bad breath bacteria to thrive. These bacteria LOVE a dry mouth without any saliva to suppress their furtive antisocial activities. Even certain alcohol-containing mouthwashes can have the same effect as drinking wine, beer and spirits and contribute to alcohol breath If you’re drinking alcohol on a regular basis it will change the balance of bacteria in your mouth no matter how diligent you are with brushing and flossing.   Other foods and drinks that upset the bacterial balance Other foods and drinks that create bad breath by encouraging the growth of bacteria include: · Caffeine in energy drinks, coffee and tea; · Sugar; · Acidic foods such as coffee, tomato juice, citrus, pickles, tomato sauce or soft drinks; and · Dense protein foods such as cheese, meat, eggs, protein powder, protein bars and fish.   Ways to protect your mouth from alcohol breath Drinking plenty of water to keep your mouth and body as hydrated as possible can help to offset the drying effects of alcohol. Aim to drink a glass or two of water between each alcoholic drink to help minimise alcohol breath. Make sure it’s just plain old pure water as sugary soft drinks will only make your bad breath worse. Other steps you can take to help keep...

Bad Breath Foods: Top 5 Kiss Killing Foods You’re on a hot date with the person of your dreams. They tick every box, but as they move in to get up close and personal the spell is broken. Hello halitosis! Don’t let bad breath ruin your love life. Here are the top 5 kiss killing foods to avoid before your next date. Ditch these bad breath foods for a sweet, fresh smooch.   Garlic There is good reason that garlic is associated with repelling vampires, helping to protect you from the kiss of death in the middle of the night. It’s also renowned at being a remarkably effective repellent against kisses of a more amorous nature too. Even a quick peck on the cheek by someone who’s sporting serious garlic breath can leave you feeling violated. No matter how hard or how many times you brush your teeth after eating garlic you simply cannot brush the smell away. It’s like a bad breath tattoo inside your mouth. Garlic ranks as the number one kiss killing food as it offers up a double whammy in the bad breath food department. Sulphur compounds found in garlic are absorbed from your digestive system and then excreted through your lungs producing the unmistakable aroma of garlic breath. One of the sulphur containing chemicals found in garlic, allyl methyl sulfide, persists in the body for many hours producing bad breath that can last for days. Raw onions Onions contain allin, also found in their bad breath food cousin, garlic, which turns into propenyl sulfenic acid when onion is cut or chewed. Propenyl sulfenic acid is responsible for the bad breath gift that just keeps giving and giving. No amount of mint, toothpaste or mouthwash is going to remove the eye watering aroma of raw onion from your breath. So, skip the onion in your salad or sandwich unless you’re planning on giving your relationship the kiss of death. Coffee Coffee ranks number 3 on the list of bad breath foods as the acids in coffee produce an environment in your mouth responsible for creating a merciless ming, guaranteed to stop a kiss in its tracks. It’s a cruel twist that something that smells so good while being sipped from a cup can produce such bad breath. Coffee helps the pong producing bacteria in your mouth take over. These bad breath bacteria love the acidic environment produced by coffee and reproduce much faster. Chemicals in saliva normally help to keep their levels low, but caffeine decreases saliva, drying your mouth out and allowing these bacteria to produce cringe-worthy breath. Tuna The omega 3 fatty acids in tuna may be great for your heart, your skin...

Got Bad Breath? Brisbane Now Has A Bad Breath Clinic The new bad breath clinic in Brisbane offers a unique and effective scientific approach to halitosis treatment. For anyone who suffers from bad breath and has struggled to get answers, professional, personalised treatment is the key to overcoming this debilitating social problem. Get your bad breath tested and measured We’ve all had bad breath at some point. Or, at least, we’ve worried we might have it, or been around people who most certainly have had a severe case of it. It’s a significant cause of social anxiety and severe halitosis has even been known to hamper career advancement. But how do you really know how bad your breath is? It’s hard to rely on friends and loved ones who might lie or downplay the problem to prevent hurt feelings. Enter the Oral Chroma bad breath analyser, star of the bad breath clinic in Brisbane! It’s 100 x more sensitive than the human nose at detecting and measuring bad breath, and guaranteed to tell the truth, allowing your dentist can devise a specialised, individual program to tackle the problem at its source. Your bad breath problem is not in your head, it’s in your mouth If you’ve visited a few doctors or dentists looking for solutions to your bad breath problem, you’ll have been given all the usual advice, like brushing, flossing or using more mouthwash. You may even have been dismissed with the idea that maybe your bad breath is all in your head! That’s why scientific testing helps. If you have EVER worried about bad breath, the sensitivity of the Oral Chroma bad-breath-o-metre will definitively let you know whether you have a problem or not. Forget relying on the human nose, the Oral Chroma at Brisbane’s new bad breath clinic, measures levels of volatile chemicals produced by bacteria in your mouth that cause 80-90% of all bad breath. Receive answers and a solution to your bad breath within minutes Robert Duhig Dental, Brisbane’s bad breath clinic understand bad breath. They see it not just as a debilitating social problem but also as a potential sign of more serious health problems such as periodontal disease or infections. Testing with the Oral Chroma is pain free, non-invasive and you’ll get results while you wait. All that’s needed is a sample of your breath. Call the friendly staff at the bad breath clinic today on 07 3269 2443 for more information on testing with the Oral Chroma. Effective bad breath diagnosis and treatment is just a phone call away Get peace of mind or receive answers to your bad breath problem with the Oral Chroma bad breath analyser at Brisbane’s newest...

The Scientific Approach To Bad Breath Treatment Most bad breath treatments only temporarily mask the symptoms by covering up the smell of bad breath. Once the pleasant minty smell has worn off your bad breath is back with a vengeance. But rest assured that you CAN eliminate bad breath by identifying and treating the source of the problem rather than simply masking it with lozenges, mouth washes and sprays. Bad breath treatment based on real dental science can help give you your self-confidence back.   Help for halitosis Halitosis, the medical term for bad breath, is estimated to effect around 50% of the general population. If you suffer from halitosis, the most important step to treat and eliminate your bad breath is to identify the source so that your dentist can prescribe a targeted and effective treatment specifically for you.   What causes bad breath? A 2013 study in the Journal of Natural Science, Biology and Medicine looked at the causes of halitosis. Researchers found that 90% of bad breath originates in the mouth due to factors that increase bacteria responsible for producing the unpleasant aromas associated with bad breath. 9% of bad breath was due to non-oral factors such as sinusitis, tonsillitis, respiratory and digestive problems and only 1% was caused by diet and drugs.     Only 1% of bad breath is caused by diet Research into the causes of bad breath has determined that dietary factors including coffee, alcohol, spicy foods, garlic and onion are responsible for causing only 1% of bad breath. Drugs such as alcohol, smoking and certain medications also make up this 1%. Unfortunately, changing your diet alone is unlikely to eliminate your bad breath problem.   90% of bad breath comes from your mouth, teeth and gums If you’re suffering from bad breath, you probably don’t need to look any further than your mouth for answers to your problem. The following oral causes are responsible for 90% of bad breath: Poor oral hygiene due to not flossing or brushing regularly or correctly; Periodontal or gum disease; Tongue coating; Food impaction in teeth or dentures; Unclean dentures; Faulty dental restorations; Oral carcinomas; or Dry mouth. All of these problems have one thing in common; they all increase the levels of bacteria in the mouth that cause bad breath.   Stink Bugs Bad breath is created when bacteria in your mouth start producing volatile sulphur compounds. One of these sulphur compounds, hydrogen sulphide, is the very stuff that gives rotten egg gas its trade mark aroma. Methyl mercaptan, another sulphur compound, smells quite literally like a barn yard. To eradicate these bacteria you must first identify what’s caused them to live happily ever after in...

Do You Actually Need Hydrogen Breath Testing In Brisbane? If you’ve suffered from bad breath you may have heard about a new breath testing service, specifically for diagnosing the underlying cause of your bad breath, that’s now available in Brisbane. But if you type ‘breath testing’ into your search engine, chances are that all you’ll see is information about the hydrogen breath test method used in a lot of Brisbane clinics. Learn about the difference between hydrogen testing and the new, more effective bad breath testing technology here.   What is breath testing? There are several different types of breath tests available that test for different health conditions. Breath tests all have one thing in common: they all test for and measure different gases produced by bacteria. Some breath tests require that you avoid certain foods for several days beforehand, or, consume special formulations before the test. The most widely known breath test is the hydrogen breath test which is used to diagnose several digestive disorders. Unfortunatley, though, it will not provide any useful information if you’re searching for answers to bad breath. Hydrogen breath testing The hydrogen breath test is increasingly being used as a diagnostic tool for IBS and food intolerances. Hydrogen breath testing is used to diagnose: · Fructose intolerance · Fructose malabsorption · Lactose intolerance · Lactulose intolerance · SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) Excess hydrogen is produced by bacteria in the digestive tract when given special formulations containing large amounts of either fructose, glucose or lactose. Breath samples are taken at regular intervals and tested for levels of hydrogen to make a diagnosis.     Bad breath testing Bad breath testing using the Oral Chroma assesses levels of bacteria in the mouth that produce volatile sulphur compounds, responsible for causing 90% of chronic bad breath. The Oral Chroma bad breath analyser measures: · Hydrogen sulfide – responsible for the signature smell of rotten egg gas. · Methyl mercaptan – often described as smelling like faeces or a barnyard. · Dimethyl sulfide – has a cabbage like smell that is highly disagreeable even at very low concentrations. By identifying the level and the type of bacterial culprits behind your bad breath, your dentist can formulate a highly targeted treatment to eliminate the bacteria and correct the problems that allowed them to live happily ever after in your mouth in the first place.     Other types of breath testing The Helicobactor pylori breath test measures urea produced by H. Pylori, the bacteria responsible for causing stomach ulcers and some cases of oesophageal reflux. Your dentist may recommend that you speak with your doctor about this particular breath test if they feel that reflux is contributing...

Introducing Brisbane’s Premier Bad Breath Clinic Is worrying about bad breath getting you down or crippling your self-confidence? Have you spent a small fortune on special mouthwashes, toothpastes and lozenges that promise to cure your halitosis only to find that friends and family still cringe when you’re up close and personal? If you’ve ever felt stressed about bad breath, you’ll be relieved to hear that there’s now a specialist breath clinic that takes the angst out of diagnosing and treating bad breath, right here in Brisbane. A bad breath analyser 100 times more sensitive than the human nose The Oral Chroma is a state of the art bad breath analysing machine that’s 100 times more sensitive than a human the nose. It doesn’t just tell you whether you’ve got bad breath, it tells you what’s causing the bad breath so that your dentist can target treatment to get to the bottom of the problem and fix your halitosis once and for all.   Bad bacteria cause bad breath Did you know that your bad breath is due to certain bacteria in your mouth producing nasty gases? Bad breath is quite literally germ warfare happening in your mouth. These microbial critters get busy producing volatile sulphur compounds, which are actually responsible for your bad breath. These malodourous bacteria can live in different parts of your mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Treatment for bad breath needs to identify and target where your bad breath originates to be truly effective and long lasting. Bad breath treatment at our breath clinic focuses on eliminating these bad bacteria and building up levels of beneficial bacteria in your mouth. Rotten eggs and Rotarua Volatile sulphur compounds are responsible for the smell of both rotten eggs and the infamous stench of the sulphur rich hot springs of New Zealand’s Rotorua. It’s no wonder that having these sulphur producing bacteria in your mouth can cause serious bad breath. The Oral Chroma at Robert Duhig Dentist in Sandgate, Brisbane’s leading breath clinic, is capable of measuring the levels of the three main sulphur compounds responsible for bad breath: hydrogen sulphide, methyl mercaptan, and dimethyl sulphide. Once accurately measured, effective treatment can begin.   The scientific approach to curing bad breath Oral Chroma has set the standard as the halitosis measuring device of choice. It’s been used for many years by university dentistry departments, pharmaceutical companies, medical teaching institutions and environmental engineering companies. Now it’s available here, for accurate diagnosis and treatment for bad breath. Bad breath treatment is no longer a case of ‘hit and miss’ with a truly scientific approach to diagnosing and treating the source of the problem. Breath testing with the Oral Chroma is completely painless, non-invasive...