Bad Breath and Other Signs of Gum Disease

While bad breath might not be the end of the world, medically speaking, it is a valid quality-of-life concern, to be sure. From our standpoint as dental professionals, however, we always take bad breath seriously because it’s often a sign of a much larger problem, namely gum disease.

Given that gum disease affects more than 42% of adults over the age of 30 in the United States and that it’s the leading cause of tooth loss, you can see why it’s always a good idea to investigate bad breath.

At Greenhill Family Dental Care, our skilled and experienced team of dental health experts routinely helps patients to get to the bottom of halitosis, which is the medical term for bad breath. And what we often find is — you guessed it — periodontitis, or gum disease.

A quick review of gum disease

Let’s start this discussion with a brief description of gum disease, which is a progressive issue that can wreak havoc on your teeth and gums. Since it’s progressive, there are different stages of gum disease, including:

Gingivitis

This is the earliest stage of gum disease when you develop inflammation around your gumline as bacteria try to gain access.

Mild periodontitis

At this stage, bacteria have gotten behind your gums and pockets can form while your gums begin to recede.

Moderate periodontitis

As the bacteria continue to eat away at the hard and soft tissues in your mouth, they can erode structural support and your teeth can loosen.

Advanced gum disease

At this stage, you’re losing bone and teeth can fall out.

Signs of gum disease

Now that we’ve staged gum disease, let’s look at some of the telltale signs of a brewing problem, starting with bad breath.

Halitosis

At the heart of gum disease is the bacterial invasion. When bacteria are active and eating away at your tissues, they release gases, which can lead to bad breath. As well, if infection occurs, this can worsen the problem and your breath can become pretty bad.

Sore and bleeding gums

When you develop gingivitis, the inflammation in your gums makes them more vulnerable to bleeding and they can become tender. So, a key first sign of gum disease are tender gums that bleed easily when you brush and floss.

Receding gums

If you notice that your gums are pulling feather up your teeth, this is a clear sign of gum disease.

Pain when chewing

As periodontitis advances and gets into your bones and teeth, you might experience pain in certain teeth when you chew. Or, your teeth might become more sensitive to hot and cold temperatures.

Reversing the course of gum disease and improving your breath

While you might not feel this way, your bad breath might be a good thing if it’s clueing us into a bigger issue like gum disease.

Gum disease is not only progressive, it’s reversible, especially in the earlier stages before real damage occurs. If we find that gum disease is behind your bad breath, we can take steps to reverse the disease, 

In some cases, it can be as simple as a professional cleaning. If the gum disease is more advanced, we can perform a deeper clean and get more aggressive about stopping the disease to reverse the course of your dental health.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s stop here so that you can take an important step, scheduling an evaluation at our practice in Gainesville, Virginia. To set that in motion, please contact us today at 703-753-2252 or use our online booking tool to schedule your visit.