My hubby has a permanent bridge in the top front of his mouth (hockey as a teen).
Recently (in the past year) he has started to undergo some serious dentalwork, part of which will be pulling and replacing that bridge (there is an abcess under it) and also pulling his bottom two front teeth (the metal back of the bridge wore them away) which also had an abcess below.
Very recently, he has started suffering from Death Breath. Granted, I started a new med to help prevent migraines, and it may be affecting my sense of smell - BUT - it’s terrible.
In the mornings, I can barely stand to be in the same room with him and I have noticed other people leaning away when he is speaking to them, so I am pretty sure it’s not just me.
I feel guilty constantly complaining about it, I know he brushes whenever I ask, and to be honest even right after he brushes I can still smell it a little, but it gets worse throughout the day.
What can he do? I am contemplating getting him a Water Pik for Christmas - not romantic onthe surface, but more so if you consider that it’s very hard to kiss him right now. I also think it would be good for our daughter to use it, for general oral health.
Any other advice? Seriously - HELP! This morning I walked into out bedroom and the WHOLE room smelled bad - just from him yawning and chatting with our cat and dog…
Is he brushing thoroughly? Both sides of the teeth, the inner parts/corners of mouth, the gums, etc.? Does he brush/scrape his tongue? Does he floss well enough that there are no dying things left between teeth?
I have 2 permanent bridges (one as a result of doing something incredibly freaking stupid on a skateboard as a kid. Got my nose broken too) and have never had them cause bad breath.
However, I have had abcesses on other teeth, and every time I had one I would have terrible, horrible breath. An abcess is usually a bacterial infection. What has his dentist been doing about them? Anti-biotics? Drainage? Root canals?
You say he has an abscess? Two of them? That’s an infection. They may be, uh, leaking puss now and again. That would account for the death breath, if that’s what’s going on.
I’m sure the dental people are aware of this - if they aren’t they will be shortly. Cleaning up the infection is probably the long-term solution. In the meanwhile, frequent proper brushing. A mouthwash might temporarily help, but only for a brief while.
Removing old dental work might expose infected tissue, releasing odor. I’m not sure that’s what’s happening, I am not a dentist. But it might be a possibility. Again, the long term solution is to clean up the mess in his mouth, which sounds like what’s being done.
Definitely get him the waterpik, to clean out debris that’s caught within the gums. (And you should use it too.) If the odor persists after the abscesses are taken care of, he might want to see a periodontist. Any kind of gum disease can be foul smelling.
There’s a prescription oral rinse that’s better than mouthwash. It’s called Chlorhexidine Gluconate. He should ask his dentist about it.
All he needs to clean under a bridge is a floss threader and some floss. A floss threader is just a stiff loop of floss that you use to get the real floss under the bridge.
Frankly, if he hasn’t been flossing or using a water pik under his bridge, no wonder he has an abscess.