While you might enjoy coffee, you might not enjoy how it makes your breath smell.
You may have to pay a price for enjoying your preferred beverage, such as coffee breath and an uneasy, dry feeling in your mouth.
Coffee breath does not smell like the delicious aroma of freshly brewed coffee, however.
The smell of coffee breath in both oneself and others is disliked by many people. There are ways to get rid of coffee breath if you’re one of them.
In this article, we’ll discuss the causes of coffee breath and offer solutions for lowering it.
What Causes Coffee Breath?
The process of roasting coffee beans produces aroma compounds that contain sulfur. These substances can result in bad breath in addition to the acids found in coffee. After all, sulfur is notorious for that “rotten egg” smell! Coffee’s high acidity can also cause an imbalance in the pH levels in your mouth, which will promote the growth of bacteria that causes bad breath.
Additionally, coffee can dry out your mouth, which lowers saliva production. This is partially due to caffeine’s presence of tannin molecules, which cause your mouth to feel parched and dry. The bacteria and germs that flourish unchecked in your mouth when it is too dry are also washed away by saliva. Furthermore, a lot of the coffee additives, including milk, cream, and sugar, can all lead to an increase in oral bacteria. Protein particles are consumed by bacteria, which releases a sulfur gas that gives you bad breath.
Why Does Coffee Impact Your Breath?
What exactly about coffee causes bad breath, then? The aroma and flavor that are naturally present in coffee beans are brought out during roasting. Sulfur-containing aroma compounds are created during this roasting process. Bad breath can be brought on by these sulfur compounds as well as the acid in coffee.
The mouth becomes dry after consuming coffee. This is caused in part by caffeine, which has a mildly dehydrating effect. This enables the coffee to stay in your mouth for a prolonged period of time and causes bad breath because saliva is required to wash away harmful oral bacteria and food particles.
Another factor in bad breath is coffee’s tannins. Tea, coffee, chocolate, and wine all contain tannins, a type of naturally occurring plant compound. They bind to the proteins in your saliva and stop it from producing saliva. This enables the oral bacteria to proliferate and release volatile sulfur compounds, which are the culprits behind the coffee breath.
How To Get Rid Of Coffee Breath?
You don’t need to stop drinking your daily coffee in order to get rid of bad coffee breath. There are numerous methods for eliminating coffee breath. Just add one or many of these tips to your daily schedule:
- Put fluoride toothpaste on your teeth.
- When flossing, be particularly careful.
- Make use of mouthwash without alcohol.
- Drink water to prevent dehydration and wash away food residue, acids, and other debris from the spaces between your teeth and gums.
- Switch to green tea. According to an article in the Archives of Oral Biology, green tea extract
helps remove the sulfur produced by tooth decay. Additionally, it promotes salivation.
- Yogurt should be consumed as part of your morning routine. Researchers have found that yogurt has good bacteria that can help decrease the smelly bacteria
Coffee breath can be reduced to a great extent by practicing good health and oral hygiene habits like increasing water intake, eating wholesome foods, and brushing your teeth. You could spend the entire day using these techniques to combat bad breath, but that would only be applying a band-aid to the issue.
How To Avoid Coffee Breath
Contrary to popular belief, drinking coffee without many additions may be better for your breath than doing so.
In contrast to increasing volatile sulfuric compounds and their odor, a 2010 study found that adding 2% coffee to a meal was beneficial for lowering them.
This could imply that your coffee breath may be primarily due to the milk or sugar you’ve been stirring into your cup. Coffee sweeteners may make your breath worse because bacteria eat sugar.
Instead of adding sugar to your coffee if you can’t bear to give up that extra sweet flavor, try stirring in a cinnamon stick or vanilla bean. Alternatives to sugar might also be an option.
Sugar is an organic component of milk, which makes your mouth more bacterial. Compared to higher-fat varieties like whole milk or half and half, skim milk has more sugar. These might be a better option for you in some situations.
What Are Coffee Alternatives?
If you are open to pivoting away from coffee while still putting pep in your step, fortunately, you have some options:
- High-caffeine black tea or chai tea
- Caffeine-free chicory root coffee
- Yerba mate (caffeinated herbal tea)
Your breath is suffering because of the tannins, sulfuric, and acidic compounds in coffee. Finding the options that work best for your daily schedule—whether you increase your oral hygiene routines or switch to a different beverage—is all that is required.
Close Note: Good Oral Hygiene Habits
Coffee breath can result from compounds in coffee that are acidic and sulfuric.
Coffee also has a drying effect on your mouth because it reduces salivation. Bacteria can form foul-smelling compounds without saliva to wash them away, making coffee breath worse.
Coffee breath can be lessened by practicing good oral hygiene. It’s also possible to try drinking black tea instead.
FAQ
Can Coffee Give You Permanent Bad Breath?
Coffee consumption also results in a dry mouth. This is caused in part by caffeine, which has a mildly dehydrating effect. This enables the coffee to stay in your mouth for a prolonged period of time and causes bad breath because saliva is required to wash away harmful oral bacteria and food particles.
Does Water Help Coffee Breath?
You should drink a lot of water after consuming coffee in addition to regularly brushing your teeth. This will help flush out the bacteria and kick-start saliva production. This will prevent bad breath and keep your mouth fresh.
Why Do Coffee Drinkers Have Bad Breath?
We love caffeine for its energizing properties, but it also decreases salivation, leading to dry mouth. Since saliva helps remove the bacteria in our mouths that cause bad breath, this is the first problem. The next problem is coffee’s high acidity, which lowers the pH in your mouth and promotes the growth of bacteria that produce odors.