Bad breath is often caused by constipation

Recent Danish research shows that the explanation for bad breath, often to be found further down than in the oral cavity. The culprit may instead be constipation, which is the case with almost every fourth patient, complaining of bad breath. The solution is usually a healthier lifestyle.

Chief of Surgery at Hillingdon Hospital Intestinal Laboratory, Helsingør, MD. Dennis Raahave estimates that 5-10% of all Danes suffer from chronic constipation, while approx. 20% of them also have bad breath due to accumulation of digested food. He experiences most often it is the patients' spouses who must go to confession and tell the patient that he or she has bad breath. But it most often occurs as a surprise to both parties that there is a connection between bowel problems and bad breath, as most people associate the symptoms with oral cavity or stomach.

Western lifestyle is blamed
When many Danes suffer from constipation, it is because of Dennis Raahave very much our western lifestyle with sedentary lifestyles, wrong eating habits and our warped relative to the toilet. If patients with hidden or chronic constipation must be rid of the bad breath, it requires that they get a functioning gut. In the pursuit of the good spirit helps exercise, high fiber and low fat diet, and intake of fluid each hour.

Intestinal Specialists instead of dentist
Dentists who can not find the explanation for the bad breath of oral cavity of their patients are advised to ask whether the patient has digestive problems, stomach ache or feel bloated, miserable, tired and lethargic. If the patient can recognize some of these symptoms, he or she is being investigated by a bowel specialist.