Introduction
The colloquially used term bad breath describes the occurrence of foul-smelling breath from the oral cavity. Halitosis is generally perceived by those affected as extremely annoying and unpleasant. Bad breath (also called halitosis or foetor ex ore) is a problem that men and women suffer from equally.
Halitosis is also not uncommon in children, although its development is somewhat more common in older people. Basically, the sense of smell plays a minor role in humans compared to senses such as sight or hearing, yet unpleasant body odors of any kind seem to have a decisive influence on interpersonal interactions. A strong body odor (e.g. bad breath) can have a repulsive effect on other people.
Causes
The occurrence of bad breath in children can have many, completely different causes. In medicine, a distinction is made between so-called systemic and local causes in connection with the occurrence of bad breath. The group of systemic causes includes all causes that are located inside the organism.
They are therefore organ-related causes. In many cases misregulation or pathological processes in the gastrointestinal tract play a decisive role in the development of bad breath in children. Local causes, on the other hand, are mainly due to diseases of the oral cavity, the nose or the nasopharynx.
In direct comparison, most children suffering from halitosis have local causes. Below is a list of the most common local causes of bad breath in children. While local causes are usually fairly easy to treat, systemic causes can have serious consequences and are difficult to treat.
- By far the most common cause of bad breath in children is poor or simply incorrect oral hygiene, which leads to pathological processes in the oral cavity.
- Teeth destroyed by caries or the presence of a severe gingivitis (technical term: gingivitis) cause on the one hand a bad taste and on the other hand they lead to the formation of unpleasant odors within the oral cavity.
- In addition, food debris that gets stuck between the teeth and is not regularly removed is often responsible for the development of bad breath in children.
- In rare cases, the occurrence of poor breathing air in children is caused by inflammation of the periodontal apparatus (so-called periodontitis). Here, due to permanently attached plaque, gum pockets have developed which require professional cleaning.
- Furthermore, infections in the oral cavity are considered potential triggers of bad breath in children. Especially fungal infections (so-called candidoses) and bacterial overgrowth play a decisive role.
- Many children suffering from bad breath also suffer from inflammation of the tonsils, a severe cold and other infections of the nasopharynx.
Among the so-called systemic causes are various basic illnesses, in which the note of the bad breath, however, sometimes differs greatly.
In many cases a first indication of the causal systemic illness can be found already at the kind of the bad breath with children.
- Children who suffer from an early form of diabetes (diabetes type I) or are in a diabetic coma often develop a strong ketone-smelling bad breath (sweetish, similar to nail polish remover).
- In addition, children who are temporarily hypoglycaemic often have a similar smell in their exhaled air.
- Bad breath in the presence of a liver disease, on the other hand, has a completely different scent. Exhaled air, which increasingly smells of urine or ammonia, can indicate severe inflammation of the urinary tract with involvement of the kidneys, kidney weakness or incipient kidney failure.
In children, too, the specific type of bad breath in kidney problems is due to the fact that the urea produced in the body can no longer be excreted properly due to the declining kidney function and accumulates within the organism.As a result, the urea produced is released into the bloodstream and exhaled through the lungs. This produces the typical ammonia-smelling bad breath.
- Inflammation in the area of the stomach lining or the esophagus can also occur in children. The inflammatory processes ensure that gastric juice and/or foul-smelling gases can rise into the oral cavity and cause bad breath in children.
- In addition, so-called hiatus hernias and Zenker’s diverticula, which are bulges in the esophagus where food remains can collect, are among the most common causes of bad breath in children.
- Also in the course of general disturbances of the gastrointestinal tract, which are caused for example by food allergies, are among the causes of bad breath in children.
