Do Braces Give You Bad Breath?
People that are about to get dental braces often wonder if braces give you bad breath? Are they bad breath braces? Good question! Let’s find out of braces will make your breath smell bad.
When you have braces, you have brackets and wires that are terrible for catching food. Especially between the brackets and your gums, every time you eat the brackets will catch tremendous amounts of food. Your saliva partially digests this food, and then bacteria feed on the remnants. It sounds gross, but this is what is going on in your mouth. Think of what your kitchen garbage smells like if you throw all the food from everyone’s plate there and then just let it sit and rot. It smells terrible.
Has my bad breath disappeared? Oh no, not at all. Now I am the proud owner of retainers that I am to wear 24/7 for the next year except for when I eat. Retainers come in two different types. One is clear plastic that encloses your teeth - one for the upper teeth and one for the bottom teeth. The other has a wire that goes on the front side of the teeth and attaches to a plastic piece on the back. Both are great places for anaerobic bacteria to set up housekeeping. We’ve said again and again that a person can’t really tell if he has bad breath.
There are three basic reasons for bad breath. The first is simple: an unclean mouth. If you don’t routinely clean your teeth, gums and tongue, plaque—a soft, sticky, almost invisible film made up of harmful bacteria—will build up and eventually cause bad breath. If you wear braces or dentures, you should be especially conscientious about brushing and rinsing after eating.