Dental veneers are one of the most popular cosmetic dentistry services for a smile makeover. These shell-like veneers, which can be made of either porcelain or composite resin, cover the front surface of your teeth to hide their imperfections. Veneers have tooth-like color and structure to make a beautiful, perfect, and natural smile. But can these popular and beneficial veneers cause bad breath? Read this comprehensive article about dental veneers and their connection to bad breath to learn more about this issue.
What Are Dental Veneers?
Before understanding the connection between dental veneers and bad breath, let us dig into what veneers actually are. Dental veneers are shell-like covers that are custom-made in dental laboratories to perfectly fit the front surface of your teeth. These veneers are made with state-of-the-art technologies and high-quality materials like porcelain or composite resin. Porcelain is more durable than composite but it costs you more. Dental veneers can cover your teeth’s imperfections like discoloration, gaps, chips, cracks, misshaped teeth, and even minor malalignments.
The procedure of getting dental veneers consists of teeth alteration. The dentist should make your teeth ready by removing a small amount of your dental enamel in order to make sure the veneers can bond to the teeth firmly. Then, the dentist takes imitations of your teeth so that the veneers can be made specially for you to fit your teeth properly. When the dental veneers are ready, the dentist bonds them into your teeth using some kind of special dental cement. After that, the dentist checks everything including your bite to make sure everything is ok. Then, you can enjoy your smile makeover and smile more confidently.
How Can Dental Veneers Cause Bad Breath?
The first thing you should know is that dental veneers alone cannot be a direct cause of bad breath! But If your dentist have not fit the veneers to your teeth properly, there may be some gaps between your teeth and veneers that foods can trap in them. These gaps with food residues inside them are ideal for bacteria to grow and make a bad smell. So, it is very important to choose a skilled and experienced dentist for your dental veneers to prevent any possible complications like bad breath.
Another reason for experiencing bad breath while having dental veneers, is poor oral hygiene. If you neglect flossing and brushing your teeth regularly, the veneers cannot be cleaned just as your natural teeth. This is a cause of bacteria build up around your veneers and make an unpleasant smell.
Other Causes of Bad Breath
Bad breath is a condition also called halitosis that can have many different underlying reasons. Some of the causes of bad breath are oral and dental causes but some of them are because of certain gastric issues or diseases. Here are some of the bad breath causes that are related to teeth and mouth aside from dental veneers:
- Smelly foods: smelly foods like garlic and onion can leave a bad smell in your mouth.
- Sweet foods and beverages: consumption of sugary foods and beverages increases bacteria that cause bad breath.
- Smoking: smoking or other ways of consuming tobacco products can leave a bad smell in your mouth. Smoking also increases the risk of tooth decay which is one of the reasons for bad breath.
- Decayed and Infected tooth: If you have a decayed or infected tooth, that can be the culprit of your bad breath.
- Dry mouth: when you don’t have enough saliva and your mouth is dry, the food particles are harder to wash away. This situation leads to bacteria overgrowing and bad breath.
- Gum disease: Infected gums can smell bad and be a cause of bad breath.
- Wounds’ infection: If you have had surgery for example for getting dental implants or a tooth extraction, the wounded area can be infected especially without proper care. This infection can be a cause of bad breath and many other issues.
How to Prevent Bad Breath After Getting Dental Veneers?
To prevent bad breath after getting dental veneers, there are two simple things you should do. Here we explained what you should do to prevent bad breath related to teeth veneers:
Choose a Skilled Dentist
Choosing a highly skilled and experienced dentist is essential to ensure a risk-free dental procedure. It is important to choose a dentist who has many years of experience in cosmetic dentistry, especially dental veneers. If the dentist does not fit the veneers properly to your feet, there might be gaps between your teeth and the veneers that act as food traps. This can become a reason for bacteria build up leading to infection and bad breath. Before choosing your dentist, you should check their website and social media accounts and read other patients’ reviews.
Maintain Proper Oral Hygiene
Maintaining a good oral hygiene routine is crucial to prevent bad breath. If you don’t clean your teeth and your veneers properly and on a regular basis, that can lead to bacteria build-up. Bacteria overgrown can lead to infection, gum disease, tooth decay, and bad breath. Also, not having a proper dental hygiene routine can affect your dental veneers’ durability in a negative way.
So, if you want to enjoy your veneers for a very long time without facing problems like bad breath, you should floss and brush your teeth regularly. Using mouthwashes, especially the ones that are anti-bacterial is also recommended.
When You Need a Consultation with a Dentist?
If you are suffering from persistent bad breath which has not gone away even after maintaining proper hygiene, you should visit a dentist. The dentist will check if the dental veneers are fitted to your teeth properly. After checking your dental veneers and looking for any gaps, if the veneers don’t have any problems they will search for other underlying causes like dry mouth, tooth decay, or gum disease. After that, the dentist will tell you what you should do according to your specific issue to conquer your bad breath.
Conclusion
In conclusion, bad breath has many causes like dry mouth, gum infection, and tooth decay. You may be experiencing bad breath after getting dental veneers because of two reasons. The first one is because the dental veneers are not fitted properly to your teeth and there are some gaps for bacteria to grow. Another reason is not maintaining a good oral hygiene routine to clean your teeth and veneers and prevent bacteria overgrown. If your bad breath wont go away even with good hygiene, you should visit a dentist to see what the exact cause of this bad smell is. The dentist will check your teeth veneers and check for other underlying causes.
Common Questions and Concerns
Are my teeth decaying under my dental veneers?
No. there is no need to worry because your teeth won’t rot under the veneers. but it is important that your dentist has put the veneers on your teeth properly without making any gaps between your teeth and your veneers. It is important to choose a highly skilled dentist to prevent this problem and maintain a good oral hygiene routine.
How to keep my dental veneers from smelling badly?
You should floss and brush your teeth regularly to clean your teeth and your dental veneers. also, you can use anti-bacterial mouthwashes to prevent bacteria build-up. You should also quit smoking if you want your dental veneers not to get any stains and smells!
What is the bad taste in my mouth after getting dental veneers?
If your mouth tastes bad after your dental veneers, the veneers might not be fitted to your teeth properly. This can make gaps between dental veneers and teeth that are able to trap food remaining. Trapped food residues rot and become processed by bacteria leading to bad taste in the mouth and bad breath.