Saliva odor is influenced by diet, health, and oral hygiene. Strongly scented foods, fatty and refined foods, poor oral hygiene, and oral diseases can cause bad breath. Lifestyle changes and medications can improve saliva odor.
Factors that influence saliva odor generally have to do with diet, health, and oral hygiene. While the odor on your breath generally comes from your lungs, these odors can leach into your saliva over time, improving the odor. This can be a nice side effect for those with fresh breath, but bad breath sufferers can develop a chronic bad taste in their mouth. Fortunately, the factors that affect saliva odor can often be directed towards the pleasant side of the spectrum, through lifestyle changes or through medications.
Diet is one of the main factors influencing the smell of saliva. Those who eat large amounts of strongly scented foods may develop saliva that reflects the odors in those foods. Garlic, onions, cabbage, turmeric, and chili peppers can impart a mildly savory scent to saliva. This might not be unpleasant if it’s just subtle, but those who eat these ingredients often may want to end their meals with a sprig of parsley or a cup of black or green tea. Parsley and tea often have odor neutralizing effects.
Eating a lot of fatty and refined foods can also give your saliva an unpleasant smell. Gases from the stomach can permeate the mouth, leaching into the moisture there. Those with digestive issues should gradually incorporate more fiber into their diets, reduce their fat intake, and snack on fruits and vegetables instead of foods filled with empty calories. This often helps the body excrete waste products that can give the mouth an unpleasant odor.
Oral hygiene is an important factor when it comes to the smell of saliva. Food trapped in the teeth and gums can begin to rot, releasing unpleasant odors into the rest of the mouth. Bacteria growing on the tongue can also be a culprit. Relieving these problems is usually as simple as flossing and gently brushing the tongue with a scraper or toothbrush. When using a toothbrush, gently brush from the back of the tongue to the tip several times.
Those who try all of the above remedies and fail to freshen their breath may want to see a doctor. Oral diseases, such as gingivitis, tooth decay and diabetes, can also cause foul-smelling saliva. Those seeking medical care should be able to describe any other unusual symptoms in the body and provide their doctors with a general timeline for how long the symptoms have been occurring. When the disease is managed, the smell of saliva should return to normal.
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