Article Surfing Archive

Children can have bad breath just as easily as their parents. When the Webmaster of badbreathgone.com asked me to write an article on halitosis (bad breath) and children, my first thought was, 'Great, a no brainer!' As an RN and mother who also works in close contact with children in a daycare, I've got plenty of good insight into halitosis in our little ones.

When you smell the breath of a healthy child it smells fresh and clean. If it doesn't, then use this checklist of the most probable causes of the halitosis/bad breath:

1. Dehydration.(which is more common than most people suspect)
2. Overeating and consequent poor digestion.
3. Eating food that promotes yeast/ candida.
4. Incipient or undiagnosed illness/ infection, low immune system.
5. Too much sugar.
6. Dental problems.
7. Not well-rested, too much activity.

As a parent and RN I often try to smell a child's breath. I can tell you that the children who come to the ER with bronchitis or asthma all have halitosis/ bad breath. Why? Because they have an infection and/or food allergy, and 9 times out of 10 are dehydrated.

So what can parents and caregivers do to give our children sweet smelling breath?

1. Be sure your child drinks enough water - and I mean water - not juices or soda. Juices, and soda particularly, dehydrate your child and load up the system with sugar. And sugar provides an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, viruses and parasite fungus/ yeast and candida.

2. Monitor your child's eating. Too much food, or food eaten too often, will not digest properly, and will ferment and create toxicity that smells bad.

3. Sugar ' again. White sugar increases halitosis, and also nourishes infections and yeast infections/ candida. Cut it down, or better, cut it out if you want fresh breath (and many other benefits besides).

4. Halitosis is a sign that the body needs something. It could be as simple as more water, or perhaps the entire immune system needs a boost. See my article on flu to help boost your child's immune system.

5. Be sure to have regular dental check-ups. I could say much more about this, but let's keep it simple. Just follow through and make those appointments.

6. Watch how your child is doing'? Too much activity? Not enough quality rest? Some kind of emotional distress? Imbalances both physical and emotional can 'sour' the stomach, turning good food into bad. I've found that bad breath can provide great motivation for parents to get closely tuned to their children and really work for their well-being.

Some simple remedies to freshen the mouth are a drop of Oil of Oregano under the tongue or on the toothbrush, and chewing on a clove. While drugstores have whole shelves full of products to sweeten halitosis/ bad breath, many products contain ingredients that I would not myself take. Be careful ' if you routinely ingest a small amount of 'helpful' toxins, that can really add up as the days run to weeks, months and years.

Pieternel has been an R.N for over 25 years. She develops natural products for preventive health and is an expert on natural health issues. This article was written for www.badbreathgone.com

' 2005 Pieternel van Giersbergen. www.pieternel.com