If your breath causes noses to crinkle, friends to recoil and kisses to stop short, the blame probably lies on your tongue. Fortunately, cleaning your tongue daily as a part of practicing overall good hygiene will keep most bad breath problems under control. Chronic breath problems, however, could signal more serious medical problems and require professional treatment.
Considerations
In most cases, bacteria in your mouth are the culprits behind your bad breath, and these bacteria usually call your tongue home. As these bacteria break down food and other organic compounds in your mouth, they produce foul-smelling sulfur compounds, which tinge your breath with an unpleasant odor. While these bacteria particularly enjoy nesting in diseased gums, if your gums are healthy and you still have bad breath, the little organisms' stations on the rear of your tongue are likely at fault. A 2008 study by the American Association for Dental Research determined tongue bacteria is behind up to 90 percent of cases of persistent bad breath.
Treatment
Including your tongue in your daily dental hygiene routine will be enough to suppress your bad breath in many cases. In addition to daily teeth brushing and flossing, brush the surface of your tongue with a toothbrush and toothpaste. Mouthwashes, however, will do little to eradicate the bacteria on your tongue. They'll mask the bad breath odor for about 20 minutes, but then it will return. If bad breath persists, a dentist can scrape your tongue to check whether bacteria on the tongue are the cause.
Symptoms
At times, visible conditions on your tongue will cause bad breath. Bacteria growth can give your tongue a coating. Your tongue might appear black, brown or yellow, or even hairy. The absence of bacteria in your mouth--if you are taking antibiotics, for example--can allow fungus to grow in your mouth, which could also give your tongue a coated appearance and your breath an unpleasant odor. In most cases, these conditions will go away on their own, but you should visit a doctor or dentist if they persist for 10 or more days.
Misconceptions
Many health product marketers advertise metallic tongue scrapers as a cure for bad breath. Research on the effectiveness of these tools is limited, according to Mayo Clinic prosthodontist Alan Carr, and at best they are only slightly more effective than brushing your tongue with a toothbrush. While there's nothing wrong with adding a tongue scraper to your oral hygiene routine, don't spend too much money on such devices.
Warning
If simple oral hygiene does not suppress your bad breath, visit a dentist. When your tongue's not to blame, the cause could be gum disease such as gingivitis, or in rarer cases, could stem from problems outside of your mouth altogether. Lung infections, liver disease, kidney problems or gastroesophageal reflux disease all can cause bad breath.
