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Bad Breath in Children

It's a surprising fact that those sweet little kids that look so angelic can have stinky breath as bad as an adult. Children from tiny infants through toddler age and all the way up to teenagers can have bad breath. The basic causes of baby bad breath and teenage breath are basically the same, but, obviously, the treatment needs to differ with the age of the child.

Holy Cow!  My Kid's Breath Is as Bad As My Husband's!

That's because people - from baby to old person -  have the same kinds of bacteria in their mouths.  Once again, it's those anaerobic bacteria that cause most of the problems of bad breath.  These bacteria thrive in dry conditions, mouths that have bits of food after eating, and proteins left from post nasal drip.  Grooves and pockets on the surface of tonsils can collect bacteria and their bacterial waste products look like infection but are really hardened debris.  These tonsilloliths as they are called have the same odor as regular bad breath and for the same reasons.  If your child doesn't have his or her tonsils, he'll never have tonsilloliths. 

Time to Call in the Doc!

Occasionally a child will have an infection or some medical problem that causes abnormal smells.  If the standard, simple remedies for bad breath don't clear up a case of stinky breath in kids, it's time to check in with your family doctor.  Regular dental checkups will keep your child's teeth or gums from being a cause of bad breath.

Whaddaya Do?

The basic procedure for any bad breath is to reduce the anaerobic bacteria in your child's mouth and to limit the amount of food available for them to decompose.   Because we're talking about children, the methods vary depending on the age of the child.  What works for a baby with no teeth just won't work for a teenager with braces.  But the principles will. 

We'll go over steps for each age group in separate articles, but the basics are the same as always:

• Rinse your mouth after eating
• Brush and floss daily - if appropriate
• Clean the tongue
• Drink water throughout the day

As usual, we recommend oral hygiene products that contain the best ingredients for getting rid of bad breath rather than covering it up.  There are several brands that are available, but the ones that we use ourselves are by TheraBreath.  TheraBreath recommends that their products be used on children over 5 years old and that they not use the Plus products, because they can cause irritation to children's sensitive mouths.  When I asked Mark Fiala, VP of Marketing and Operations, why they didn't recommend using their products for children under 5 he replied, "Under 5 we tell (parents) to not use them (for no specific reason, just to be safe)."  Ya gotta love a company that feels that way. 

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