7 things your doctor doesn’t want you to know about bad breath

Morning breath has a medical name.

It’s called halitosis. That’s the doctor’s word for breath that stinks.

And the government’s own health site calls it “normal”.

So nobody tells you what’s causing it, or that there’s a fix.

Your spit switches off at night.

Saliva runs on a body clock. It’s highest in the afternoon and nearly stops while you sleep.

Spit is your mouth’s own rinse. For eight hours a night, there isn’t any.

An open mouth turns it into a desert.

Sleep with your mouth open and it dries out even faster.

In a lab study, two hours of breathing through the mouth took the back of the throat from wet to almost dry. Breathing through the nose didn’t.

The smell is rotten-egg gas.

Germs at the back of your tongue make sulphur gases while you sleep. Spit normally washes them away.

By 3am there’s no spit left to do it.

That’s poo breath.

It’s eating your teeth while you sleep.

Spit protects your teeth. People with a dry mouth are more likely to get tooth decay.

Sleeping with your mouth open makes your mouth more acidic overnight.

Acid is what eats teeth.

Your bathroom cabinet works too late.

Mouthwash, gum, mints and the tongue scraper all work in the morning.

The stink gets made between midnight and 6am.

Brushing at 10pm can’t stop eight hours of a dry mouth.

The fix is keeping your mouth shut.

Spit is what washes the smell away. Keep your mouth shut all night and it stays wet.

That’s Recovery+. One strip across your lips at bedtime. Your nose does the breathing, and your mouth stays wet till morning.

A slit down the middle means you’re never sealed shut. Latex-free, hypoallergenic, works with a beard.