Causes and prevention of bad breath in kids

Pediatrician Cara Natterson, MD, shares advice for parents on what causes bad breath in children and the best way to prevent your child from having bad breath
Bad Breath In Children - Causes and Prevention of Bad Breath in Kids
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Causes and prevention of bad breath in kids

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Bad breath comes from the bacteria that live in your mouth. And when you have food, particularly sugar, on your teeth or your tongue, then the bacteria have something to feed off of and grow. So that's why when we wake up in the morning after a long night's sleep, we all have stinky breath. For kids and adults, you want to make sure to brush the teeth really well; that means two minutes at a time, not 20 seconds. You want to floss, and don't forget about the tongue. So if you brush the tongue really well, you'll get all the bacteria that live on there and your breath will be much better. If your child is brushing their teeth really well twice a day and you still notice a fowl odor, sometimes there's something else going on. It could be a cavity. Sometimes you'll have illnesses that will present with bad breath. Strep throat, for instance, oh the breath stinks. So if you're noticing that your child's oral hygiene is really great but their breath is still stinky, that's the point at which you want to talk to the doctor.

Pediatrician Cara Natterson, MD, shares advice for parents on what causes bad breath in children and the best way to prevent your child from having bad breath

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Cara Natterson, MD

Pediatrician & Author

Cara Natterson, MD has treated thousands of children and guided their parents as well. She was a partner at Tenth Street Pediatrics in Santa Monica, California, a large group practice serving infants, children and teenagers. She now runs Worry Proof Consulting, the first of its kind pediatric practice that offers parents open-ended time to review everything from medical questions and biology basics to child development and parenting issues. Cara is also the author of several books on parenting and child health. She has a unique ability to translate cutting edge research into understandable terms for parents and their kids. More recently, Cara’s consulting has extended beyond individual families to include fortune 500 companies seeking expert advice on safety issues, child health, and crisis management.

Cara has appeared on television, in print, and on the web. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and she trained in pediatrics at the University of California at San Francisco. Cara is a Board certified pediatrician and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. And anyone who knows her knows that Cara is, by nature, one of the most risk-averse people on earth. She lives in California with her husband and two children.

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