Effective Ways to Reduce Face Mask Bad Breath
Dr. B. Kanagasabapathy
[M.D.S. (Ortho), Fellow ICOI]
The Corona Virus pandemic has made face mask the highly sought-after accessory today. Wearing masks when we step out has become a part of our new normal life. While preventing cross-contamination of viruses, it has made most of us victims of bad breath. Do you sense your breath smells or nasty odor underneath your mask after wearing it for hours?
The concentration of oral malodour is increased when we cover our mouth and nose, make us to sense the breath. Such mask breath is inevitable and more than one factor behind it. Keep reading to know more about them.
Why does our breath smell bad while wearing a face mask?
Wearing masks make us use our mouth to breathe. Whenever you breathe inside the face mask, the saliva and moisture in your breath deposit in the mask fibers. Those collected droplets leave a foul smell while drying.
Moreover, such mouth breathing absorbs saliva and leaves our mouth dry, which makes the bacteria inside the mouth flourish and make your breath stinks.
Besides these, various things contribute to such foul odor from the mouth include:
- Taking smelly food items like onion, garlic
- Too much consumption of spicy or sugary foods
- Increased dryness due to medication or mouth breathing habit
- Smoking or chewing tobacco
- Alcohol consumption
- Undetected dental illness
- Undetected medical problems like GERD, Chronic Sinus infections
- Poor oral hygiene
Helpful Tips to combat face mask bad breath
Incorporating face mask care activities with a good oral hygiene routine will minimize the stinky breaths under the mask. The effective tips we recommend our patients are as follows:
1) Clean your mask
Unlike medical professionals, most people use washable reusable face masks. Such fabric masks collect the microbes in the expelled air whereas they can reinject in your mouth while inhaling. To cut such curbs, wash your face masks after wearing it for a long time. CDC has also issued guidelines for washing face coverings in this COVID 19 Pandemic.
2) Stay hydrated
Drink more water, Take water-rich foods, chew sugar-free gums, breath mints often. These practices will hydrate your body and increase salivary flow. Increased saliva helps in evacuating microbes that contribute to emitting bad breath.
3) Stop Mouth Breathing
As discussed earlier, breathing through mouth increases mouth dryness and reduce salivary flow to moisten oral tissues, clear oral bacteria.
The best way to overcome this problem is to breathe in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. It makes our bodies release more air efficiently.
4) Clean your teeth efficiently
Fortifying dental hygiene routine with brushing twice a day, flossing at least once a day, gargling mouth with alcohol-free mouthwashes are mandatory. It prevents plaque formation by removing the bacteria and germs embedded in the teeth as well as oral tissues.
Bottom line
No one knows when this pandemic will end and how long we need face masks to protect ourselves. Until then, face masks are inevitable and we should endure such stinky side effects of wearing face masks.
Keep in mind that such mask breath is not identical to halitosis. If your breath smells filthy even after removing the face mask, you might have some undiagnosed dental illness that should be rectified immediately.
