If you drink coffee every day, then you may be familiar with one of its drawbacks: it can leave your breath smelling less than pleasant. Chances are, everyone you speak to will pick up on the smell, which can affect the sort of impression you leave. If you don’t want to give up your daily cup of joe, then it pays to learn more about what causes coffee breath and what can be done to put a stop to it. Here’s what your preventive dentist has to say.
What Leads to Coffee Breath?
There are actually multiple aspects of coffee that can potentially contribute to bad breath. For one thing, roasting coffee beans leads to the formation of special compounds that contain sulfur. Said compounds can easily result in bad breath, especially when combined with the acid content that can be found in coffee.
On top of that, coffee is known to cause dry mouth due to containing tannins as well as caffeine. When your mouth is dry, odor-causing bacteria have a chance to build up. Additionally, if you put sugar in your coffee, bacteria can feed on it and turn it into foul-smelling sulfur compounds, thus making bad breath even worse.
How Can You Get Rid of Coffee Breath?
One possible solution for coffee breath is to simply not drink coffee. Of course, for many people, this is not an option that they want to consider. Fortunately, there are a number of other steps you can take to alleviate coffee breath:
- Clean your mouth thoroughly once you’re done with your coffee. This means brushing with fluoride toothpaste for two minutes and flossing between all of your teeth.
- Rinse with some mouthwash. Make sure that said mouthwash does not contain alcohol.
- Drink some water to stop your mouth from drying out and wash away undesirable bacteria.
- Make yogurt part of your breakfast. The bacteria that can be found in yogurt can help fight the bacteria known to cause bad breath.
- Chew on a bit of sugar-free gum. This encourages your mouth to produce more saliva, thus letting you avoid a dry mouth. And of course, the gum itself can go a long way toward leaving you with better-smelling breath.
As much as you may love coffee, it could easily be leaving you with bad breath. Luckily, by taking the right steps to address this problem, you can freshen up your breath so that it won’t affect your ability to interact with others throughout the day.
About the Practice
At Advanced Dentistry of Alhambra, we have multiple dentists and specialists who have joined forces to deliver comprehensive care to their patients. We care about making sure you have a positive experience whenever you visit the dentist, whether it’s for routine preventive care or a more advanced treatment. To schedule a consultation with our team, visit our website or call (626) 289-6131.