At first blush, your senior’s breath might seem as if it’s just a hygiene issue. But it truly is more than that. Sure, bad breath might be about your senior not brushing as often, but there could be other causes so it’s important to know what’s going on.
Encourage More Water Intake
Not drinking enough water consistently can leave your senior dehydrated, which is another contributing factor for bad breath. An easy solution is for your elderly family member to sip on water all day long. If she has a tough time remembering to do so, 24-hour home care providers might be a good option.
Encourage Your Senior to Brush and Floss Daily
Brushing and flossing regularly are the next obvious step. Regular brushing helps to remove the plaque and bacteria that contribute to bad breath. If your elderly family member has dentures, those need to be cleaned as well, but in a way that is safe for the dentures. Daily dental care may be one of those things that is becoming more difficult for your senior to manage on her own. 24-hour home care providers can offer a lot of help.
Look at Habits Like Smoking and High Coffee Intake
If your elderly family member smokes or tends to drink coffee all day every day, that can be a contributing factor to bad breath. Stopping these habits or at least cutting back a little bit can have a big impact on her breath, but it can also have health ramifications for her. Talk with her doctor about what else your senior should know about these habits and her own health.
Take a Closer Look at Diet
Some foods can very easily contribute to bad breathe. For some people it’s something as simple as peanut butter. For others, foods like garlic and onions can stick around a lot longer and contribute to bad breath. Looking at what your senior is eating can sometimes help you to spot patterns. This is another area where 24-hour home care services can help significantly, especially if your senior is eating some foods simply because they’re easy to prepare.
Talk with Your Senior’s Doctor and Dentist
Assuming that you know your senior is doing all the right things and she’s still having issues with her breath, it might be something else. You may want to enlist the help of both her doctor and her dentist to help you both to get to the bottom of what’s going on. This can help you to rule out serious health or dental health concerns.
Bad breath is about more than just smells. Breath issues can be a sign of other concerns, so it needs to be taken seriously.