Low-carb diet: How does it affect your breath?

Painesville OH Dentist Offers Tips on Oral Health 

People are now more conscious about their fitness. This is why many are now into different types of diet to achieve the body that they want. One of the most popular diet that people follow is to cut their carb intake. Low-carb diet is a coveted meal plan that fitness enthusiasts follow but did you know that following suit this diet will give you bad breath?

What it low-carb diet’s effect on oral health?

While low-carb diet is deemed to be helpful in terms of minimizing tooth decay problems, this can also be the cause of stinky breath. How does this happen? Well, the Atkins diet, for instance, is a type of diet that limit carb intake to only 20 grams daily. If you are not familiar with this diet, this actually begins in a process called ketosis wherein your body will burn fats for fuel. Your body will then produce ketones as a side effect of the fat burning and turning into energy.

The ketones produced are usually not used by the body; hence, they are excreted through urinating and can also be exhaled by the lungs as a waste. Although study shows that this doesn’t harm your oral health, having a stinky breath can actually be annoying to some people.

What to do about it?

If you are in this type of diet but doesn’t want to suffer severe bad breath, you can minimize this concern through drinking plenty of water from time to time. The water will help dilute the ketones produced by the body, thus, the bad-smelling breath is weakened. Another tip to control the stench is to chew sugarless gum or having some mints with xylitol. This will neutralize the chemicals in your mouth that also cause bad breath.

Oral hygiene can make or break your societal relationship. After all, no one would want to talk or entertain someone with a stinky breath.