Bad Breath

Alright, as you can see from my previous post about my dental hygiene, I keep my teeth/mouth painstakingly clean. (Side note: whenever I mentioned "brush" in my previous post, that includes brushing my teeth and my tongue) My last dental check-up/cleaning was about three weeks ago, and I did not have any cavities and was complimented on how clean I keep my teeth. So, why do I occasionally have bad breath?

Well, duh, it is related to Invisalign, but not because I don't keep the aligners or my mouth clean. It is because I get severe dry mouth whenever I have the aligners in (20-22 hours + a day). I read up on why dry mouth would cause bad breath, and this is what I found out:

"Saliva is necessary to moisten and cleanse the mouth by neutralizing acids produced by plaque and washing away dead cells that accumulate on the tongue, gums, and cheeks. If not removed, these cells decompose and can cause bad breath." -- Medicine.net

In order to remove those dead cells, it is recommended to drink plenty of water (which I do) and maintain flawless dental hygiene (which I also do). YET, I still find that I sometimes have bad breath, so I decided to invest in some sugar-free Binaca spray. I don't love it, but it works if I am about to talk to someone in my immediate future.

One thing I have discussed with my boyfriend and my brother is that maybe bad breath can also be caused by cleaning one's mouth/teeth/tongue TOO WELL and TOO OFTEN? Does that make sense? Like, maybe because I clean so often, my mouth has decided that it doesn't need to produce whatever it used to in order to keep my breath in check...I don't know, it was a just a thought.