Breath Odor

Breath Odor: Common Causes

If previously normal breath turns into halitosis, causes could include:

• Food or beverages consumed (such as cabbage, garlic, raw onions, or coffee)
• Vitamin supplements (especially in large doses)
• Poor dental hygiene
• Dentures
• Cavities
• Tobacco smoking
• Alcoholism
• Throat infection
• Sinusitis
• Lung infection
• Gum disease (gingivitis, gingivostomatitis)
• Abscessed tooth
• Impacted tooth
• Foreign body in the nose (in children)
  • Often (but not always) there is a white, yellowish, or bloody discharge from one nostril
• Drugs
  • Paraldehyde
  • Triamterene and inhaled anesthetics
  • Insulin - injection

• Acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis
• Acute necrotizing ulcerative mucositis
• Acute renal failure
• Bowel obstruction (can cause breath to smell like feces)
• Bronchiectasis
• Chronic renal failure (can cause breath to smell like ammonia)
• Diabetes (fruity or "sweet chemical" smell with ketoacidosis)
• Esophageal cancer
• Gastric carcinoma
• Gastrojejunocolic fistula (fruity-smelling breath)
• Hepatic encephalopathy
• Diabetic ketoacidosis
• Lung abscess
• Ozena, or atrophic rhinitis
• Periodontal disease
• Pharyngitis
• Zenker's diverticulum