Wearing a coronavirus mask can cause bad breath?

by Wildsmile

Due to the pandemic caused by the Covid-19 the use of masks has become part of our daily lives. Since the beginning of this year 2020, going out should be done with one of the many protections that exist to cover our nose and mouth, of course to safeguard the health of all, avoiding more and more infections.

A life with masks

After so many months of using the masks many people have noticed a specific problem and that is that they argue that after using them for so long they have developed a bad smell in their mouths. This has led to debates and even scientific research, explaining that "so far there is no scientific evidence that masks cause oral health problems".

What do dentists think about this?

The most common opinions are that by having our mouth covered we are more aware of our own breath and many times halitosis, previously ignored by us, with this new modality, now we perceive it. Other views are that when our mouth is covered for so many hours it dries out, causing Xerostomia, one of the most common consequences of this is bad breath. They also argue that dry mouth is caused by drinking less water, all of this caused by having to wear the masks all the time at work, as well as in the street.

It is very important to emphasize that these are only opinions of specialists dedicated to dental health, perhaps later when the Covid-19 pandemic gets fully controlled we will be able to know if the use of masks really brings harmful consequences to our mouth and teeth.

6 reasons why your mouth can smell bad

We share 6 reasons why you may have bad breath or halitosis:

- Breathing through your mouth

- Any medication you take

- Nasal congestion or allergies

- Drinking alcohol and smoking

- Lack of dental hygiene

- You suffer from a medical condition

Now you know that if you detect bad smell in your mouth it is very probable that it is not because of the use of masks, but because of bad habits or other medical conditions. If you want to know more about halitosis, we recomend you to read: CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS OF HALITOSIS