Why is morning breath so bad?

Why is morning breath so bad? What causes it? And why the morning? And how come nobody ever has “afternoon breath”? Let’s answer those questions here today.

To start, “morning breath” is really just plain old bad breath, called halitosis. Halitosis is a common problem that has a variety of causes, from diet to lifestyle to oral health issues to chronic medical conditions in certain people. While not everyone has an issue with chronic halitosis, almost all of us have some type of morning breath. That’s what makes it so interesting.

Dry mouth and morning breath

I can hear you now: “OK, Dr. Connelly, morning breath is just plain old halitosis. But why the morning?”

To answer that question, we have to first go to one of the common causes of halitosis: dry mouth. Your saliva washes away and controls bacteria. When your mouth is dry and doesn’t produce enough saliva, bacteria can flourish. They munch on compounds, proteins, amino acids and leftover foodstuffs in your mouth and on your teeth, and produce volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) which, well, stink.

So that brings us back to what causes morning breath. Since saliva production is markedly reduced while we sleep, bacteria can thrive, resulting in morning breath.

Yes, it really is that simple—morning breath generally comes from dry mouth, which causes bad breath.

Preventing morning breath

Now to the question I often get asked: How can I prevent morning breath? Well, there’s really no outright, foolproof prevention. Your body doesn’t produce saliva when you sleep, and you need to sleep, so the breeding ground will always be there. That said, there are a few things you can do to get rid of morning breath.

• Brush and floss right before you go to sleep. This will clean out your mouth and get rid of any food particles. This gives those bacteria less “food” to munch on.
• Hydrate before going to sleep. Drink some water. No, it’s not saliva, but it’ll help a little. If you get up during the night, again, drink some water. It can’t hurt.
• Limit alcohol intake. Alcohol is drying.
• Don’t smoke. The benefits go well beyond preventing dry mouth.

I realize some of these may be pretty obvious, but they will all help to prevent that dreaded morning breath.