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Natural Cures for Bad Breath

Bad breath, or halitosis, is an unpleasant odor emanating from the mouth.

The primary symptom of bad breath is a bad odor emanating from the mouth that is usually not detectable by the person who has bad breath.

Bad breath is usually caused by some health problem in the mouth, teeth, gums, throat, or gastrointestinal tract. Other contributing factors may be smoking, liver disease, and poor protein digestion. The mouth is one window into the body. If there is a bad odor, it is a general sign that there is some underlying cause and imbalance that needs to be treated.

Astute holistic health practitioners smell the breath and examine carefully the tongue and mouth of all patients. Certain odors or smells emanating from the mouth can be indications of specific disease; for example, a metallic smell may represent diabetes or an active metabolism undergoing rapid weight loss; sour smells may represent stomach problems or tumors. While conventional physicians do not agree that halitosis may represent intestinal problems, holistic practitioners, based on extensive anecdotal evidence provided by their patients, disagree, and will often address gastrointestinal health when treating cases of bad breath.

If you have chronic bad breath, it is not a good idea to continue to try to "mask" it with over-the-counter breath fresheners and mints, as many of these are very high in sugar. There are natural cures for bad breath that take into account your overall health, instead of merely trying to mask the symptoms.