children with bad breath

[whatwhat]

Hi, my two boys (7 & 4) both have really bad breath. They both brush well (I still brush the 4 yr olds) and the elder uses a childrens mouth wash. They have regular dentist visits, who says they both have great strong teeth with no probs. (they have not long ago had a check up and I didnt think to ask the dentist then) they both have good diets. Their morning breath is awful, and iv started noticing it bad even straight after brushing. Is this normal?? Any ideas on why its happening or what I can do to help x

[askyourgran]

Do the children drink plenty of water. I always think that if your dental hygiene is OK it could be from their stomach or maybe a throat infection. Do they go to the loo regularly? Ask your GP.

[whatwhat]

they dont drink that much in the day, but both have large water bottles in bed at night, that they finish each night!! not sure how we ended up like this!! they both take fresh water bottles to school/ pre school, but come back with them un touched!! loo visits seem fairly regular through the day. Have never really found the GPs much cop!! it always seems to be 'see how it is in a month and then come back if its no better!!'

[Hopkirk]

Are you being over sensitive?

Perhaps it is not as bad as you think.

[whatwhat]

if they breath in your direction, its bad!! trust me!!

[mk1975]

they might have a trush on the tongue. my 4 yr old daughters breath was really bad and i thought she might have decay in her teeth but she had a white colour coating on her tongue and it turned out it was oral thrush. gp gave her niyastin(not sure of spelling) and it cleared it and now she doesnt have the bad breath.
and i thought the white coating on the tongue was because she loves milk and drinks plenty of it, thats why was white ish, silly me :)))

[whatwhat]

thats interesting mk!! maybe a trip to the docs is whats called for!! Thanks for all your advice!

[JustJenni]

what about tonsil stones? food gets trapped in your tonsils and then decays, you get little white or yellow bits in your month when they work there way out. They smell horrible, maybe worth having a look at some information

[boxtops]

I know what you mean, jenni, I used to get them. I was told it was infections though, they were on the tonsils, not trapped food - you are right, they smell and taste vile.

[boxtops]

Yes, this is the tonsils stones - calcium, not trapped food. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonsillolith