“Roll over on your other side, honey, you’re snoring”. How many of us have had to say this in the middle of the night? Or, have heard someone say it to us? We all thought it was because of the noise. But maybe for some of us it was because of the bad breath our partners had!
Studies show that a lot of people who snore also have bad breath, but is it because snoring causes bad breath or do they have the same cause?
As we know, most bad breath is caused by the development and lingering of bacteria in the mouth, particularly on your tongue. The bacteria tend to be controlled by the proper production of sufficient saliva. Saliva helps to flush food particles or debris and controls the production of harmful (and halitosis-producing) microbes in the mouth. Some of the reasons sufficient saliva is not produces include disease, poor diet, medication, alcohol, stress and lack of proper hydration. And, dehydration, from whatever reason, can cause mouth breathing.
See where we are headed, folks? Moving on to snoring, now, and it’s causes.
Snoring is caused by a number of factors including sleep apnea. But the most prevalent cause for snoring is, yes, you’ve got it, mouth breathing. When people breathe through their noses, they generally do not snore (they may snort, however!). So, since mouth breathing can cause bad breath, and it also causes snoring, the logical conclusion is that snorers can have bad breath. And, therefore, in a way, snoring can cause bad breath.
Any dehydration at all can make us breathe through our mouths instead of our noses, and therefore it is important to keep ourselves well-hydrated. While hydration is important year-round, it is especially important during these winter months, when many of us have heat turned on in our homes and our environment gets drier as well. The better the hydration the better the chance that we can breathe through our noses and reduce snoring.
It isn’t easy for mouth breathers to become nose breathers. But a good diet, sufficient hydration, and medication management can help. And, of course, always maintain your proper oral hygiene routine. By brushing and using your TUNG Brush and Gel every day, your saliva will have great help fighting the food debris and bacteria that cause bad breath to begin with.
Until then you may just have to keep telling your partner to “roll over honey, you are snoring…and…your breath is bad” so you can get some sleep! 💤
