Could my Dentures be the Culprit of my bad Breath?
The problem most of you are having, and you don't realize it, is your sinuses aren't draining properly. Whenever someone has bad breath even after they brush and gargle is because of the sinuses. The sinuses are ideal places for smelly bacteria to thrive in, especially if you have had all of your teeth extracted. See when you have all your teeth extracted, your sinuses swell and become larger than once before; most people do not know this. Your sinuses are dark, warm, and moist and love to flare up, especially in today's society with all the chemical being sprayed and additives in our food. Another problematic cause for bad breath can be, tonsil stones and stomach problems, these are somewhat rare causes of bad breath. Tonsil stones are a lot more common than stomach smells. But tonsils alone can definitely cause bad breath if you have thick post nasal drip. The mucus gets stuck inside the tonsils and becomes stagnant. But the tonsils are not the SOURCE of your problem. They just add to the smell. The source of your problem is your sinus and/or nasal chambers. Sometimes after a person gets dentures, they will have to have something called a sinus lift. A sinus lift is surgery that adds bone to your upper jaw in the area of your molars and premolars. It's sometimes called a sinus augmentation. The bone is added between your jaw and the maxillary sinuses, which are on either side of your nose. To make room for the bone, the sinus membrane has to be moved upward, or "lifted." A sinus lift usually is done by a specialist. This could be either an oral and maxillofacial surgeon or a periodontist.
White Tongue
If you have a white tongue in the morning, you scrape it and your tongue is pink, then a few hours later it is white again towards the back, then that means you have thick and stagnant post nasal drip causing to much yeast, then causing thrush. Thrush is a bacteria. When you combine the sinuses with thick mucus, tonsils, and tongue you have FOUR culprits that can make your breath absolutely disgusting. All kinds of smelly bacteria can be in the mucus. "But my mucus doesn't smell when I spit it out!" Yeah, most mucus doesn't actually stink. The place that is stinking up the joint is caused by the bacteria that are hiding under the mucus caked on your nasal walls, sinuses, back of tongue, and tonsils.
The mucus caked on your sinuses and nasal chamber is old and can sometimes be years old. You could compare it's stickiness to glue. It's very hard to get off. Again, the smelly bacteria that may be hiding under that sticky mucus. Your body produces the thick mucus to cover up the bacteria, but in reality your body is causing all of your smelly problems. Your body would rather smell than have bad bacteria roaming around everywhere.
Your nasal chamber and/or sinuses aren't draining properly. Either because you have an obstruction somewhere up there, like a nasal valve collapse, cartilage that is blocking the flow of mucus, or even a cyst. If your nasal cavity is blocked in any way, shape, or form, 90% chance your breath stinks.
The thick mucus is the first sign of this, along with the white coating on the back of the tongue. If you are constantly clearing your throat, wake up at night of a sleep apnea, your voice is hoarse (especially in the morning), you are always having to blow your nose, you get tired easily, your nose runs more than normal while/after you eat... these are all symptoms of a blocked nasal cavity or sinus.
Try doing the following to properly diagnose you. Grab both sides of your cheeks near the middle of your nose and pull up and out with your fingers. Do you breathe better when you do this? Clear your throat over and over again as you have your cheeks pulled out. If you are cleaning a lot of mucus out while doing this, then you most certainly has a blocked area in there somewhere.
In my case, I had a collapsed nasal valve on my right side which would clog up the mucus. As soon as I lifted up my cheeks, the mucus would drain like mad and I could tell my breath was completely fresh again. I had to have surgery done by a PLASTIC surgeon (not a regular ENT doctor) but a skilled plastic ENT surgeon. They know what they are doing and will fix your problem. Most of the time your insurance will pay for the surgery since your problem is caused by a deformity.
If you are in the UK or Europe somewhere, then you should definitely look into the "titanium splints" that some doctors use to keep the nasal cavity wide open. This will solve your problem. While you are there, ask them about your tonsils just to make sure. He might suggest you have both procedures done at the same time to kill two birds with one stone. But in most cases, your tonsils aren't the source of your problem.
Nasal deformities can be caused by weak facial muscles, especially around your mouth. If you sleep with your mouth open, this means you have weak facial muscles. You should also look into my functional therapy. This deals with all kinds of nasal and mouth problems. If you sucked your thumb as a kid, or a pacifier, those terrible habits can cause open mouth posture, which will give you all kinds of problems in your adult life. Crooked teeth, swallowing problems, a weak tongue, and weak face, open mouth, sinus problems, etc.
I hope this shines some light on your problem. Most all human body problems are simple in nature. Don't try to overthink this. The fact of the matter is, your normal thin and foamy mucus can't drain properly. So it builds up over time and becomes extremely thick and sticky, which invites bacteria to thrive in its environment.