This post is brought to you in association with Oral B:

I’m am SO picky about teeth. Like lots of adults, I’m really aware of bad breath and the thought of a post-garlic bread mouth is one that makes me feel a bit yuck. In the case of certain foods, bad breath can often prove to be a temporary condition, calming down when the body has processed that offending odour.

It’s not rocket science, but the best bad breath cure is taking care of your teeth and making sure you’ve got a good oral care routine. For example, brushing twice a day and flossing can help get rid of food particles that build up between the teeth, banishing the bacteria that causes the odour.

The same is true for kids, which is why I’m welcoming the experts at Oral B to the blog today, to talk about the best way to implement an oral care routine for children – and why it’s so important.

***

It’s often suprising when a child has bad breath, because their lifestyles and diets tend to be less offensive to their oral hygiene than perhaps those of their parents; children tend to avoid the more pungent foods and bad habits that can cause oral odours.

It’s important to consider what causes bad breath in children before panicking about concerning medical conditions. More often than not causes of bad breath can arise as a result of inadequate tooth brushing. It’s the bacteria being allowed to breed in the mouth that creates the unpleasant odour.

It’s therefore vital to assess your child’s dental care and hygiene habits to ensure they are as stringent as they should be. Make sure your children brush their teeth twice a day. It’s as important to tackle the tongue as the teeth, as hundreds of bad smelling bacteria can be harboured by the tongue. Thorough cleaning will ensure that bacteria don’t sit and stagnate in the mouth.

If an improved oral hygiene routine doesn’t appear to help your child’s breath, consult a dentist to check for tooth decay, which could be the reason for the bad odour. Tooth decay occurs as a result of plaque build-up. It’s the bacteria that live in the plaque that create the cavities. In order to eat away at the tooth’s surface, they require sugar from the food and drink we consume to complete the destructive demineralisation process.

If plaque is not removed regularly and sugar is consumed in copious quantities, it can have disastrous consequences for your children’s teeth. It’s therefore crucial to establish a stringent oral hygiene routine – and the earlier the better. Take care of your toddler’s teeth as well as your older children’s. Encourage good oral hygiene habits with toothbrushes that feature their favourite characters and colours.

A persistent problem may be symptomatic of an underlying medical rather than dental condition, but statistically speaking this is far less likely to be the case. For your first port of call, ensure you and your child carry out consistent, proper dental care to avoid a plethora of oral hygiene problems.