If you have been told that your breath could knock over a buffalo at twenty paces, there is a very good chance that you have halitosis. Halitosis is a fancy word meaning "bad breath," except that it is not just any bad breath. Halitosis is the worst case scenario of any bad breath.
If it is especially embarrassing to you, you might be concerned about offending your dentist and how your dentist will manage it. After all, he or she has to be in your mouth for several minutes at a time. Here is how most dentists manage facing halitosis in their patients, and how you can make it easier on your dentist to examine your teeth when you have halitosis.
Breathing Through the Mouth
Most dentists don paper masks for medical reasons and overall good medical hygiene. If you have a cold, or the dentist has a cold, neither of you should give it to the other if the dentist is wearing a mask. Something else you might not know is that dentists also wear paper masks so that they can breath through their mouths while treating patients with chronic bad breath. You cannot see them mouth-breathing, which is why it works for the dentists. Since smells are interpreted through the nose, and breathing through the mouth deters breathing through the nose, your dentist will not smell your bad breath after catching the first whiff of it.
Eucalyptus Rub
This is a product often used by police detectives when they are investigating a murder scene or checking out a dead body. Decomposition is a very foul thing, and the officers would not be able to do their jobs if the smell gets to them. So, they take a little jar of eucalyptus rub and dab a little under their noses. Not only does it cancel out the smell of death, but it also clears the sinuses and softens their upper lips and noses.
Some dentists also use it, but the ones that do are easy to spot. Some dentists try to avoid offending patients' abilities to smell strong odors too, so this is one product that is used less common than others. Still, if a patient has intensely overwhelming halitosis, the eucalyptus rub might be necessary.
How You Can Make Your Halitosis Temporarily More Tolerable for Your Dentist
Ask that the hygienist professionally clean your teeth before you consult with the dentist. Most dentists do this anyway, but if yours does not, request that they do. A cleaner mouth and cleaner teeth helps remove more of the bacteria that was causing some of the halitosis.
Avoid eating or drinking anything that is strong or has a strong flavor or seasoning on the day of your appointment. This includes black coffee, garlic, onions, oregano, hot sauce or hot chilis, chili peppers, etc.. Not only will your breath smell a little better than usual, but it will not offend if you have to burp in the dentist's chair!
Discuss Your Halitosis with Your Dentist
Yes, it is embarrassing, but when you are concerned about offending your dentist and others with your halitosis, you have to have a conversation with your dentist about it. There is a very good chance he or she has already smelled it, but it is a difficult subject to breach on both the patient and the dentist side of things. Your dentist can help you by suggesting a few treatments (e.g., a really deep gum cleaning) and/or by finding the cause of your bad breath and removing the cause (if possible--sometimes medications cause bad breath and that makes it more difficult).
For more information, contact companies like Airport Road Dental Associates.
Share30 November 2017
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