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• Banish Bad Breath And Gum Disease!
• Bad Breath Cure Revealed
• The Bad Breath Report: Cure Bad Breath The Quick & Easy Way!

• Avoiding the Embarrassment of Bad Breath
• Dealing with Halitosis
• Stopping Bad Breath
• Bad Breath in Pets
• Halitosis Myths and Reality
• The Importance of Good Oral Hygiene
• Acid Reflux Disease and Bad Breath
• Occassional, Situational, and Chronic Bad Breath
• Bad Breath in Children
• Bad Breath and Radiation Therapy

Bad Breath and Radiation Therapy

As most people know, bad breath is caused by anaerobic bacteria and improper oral care. In simple cases of bad breath, improving oral care and visiting your dentist regularly can help eliminate halitosis.  It is important to note that in serious cases of bad breath the cause may be an undiagnosed, serious disease.  Oral and throat cancer are two such diseases.   Sometimes the treatment for these conditions often makes bad breath worse.  One of these therapies is radiation therapy.

Radiation therapy is sometimes called radiotheraphy.  Radiotherapy is the medical use of radiation to control malignant cancer cells.  Radiation therapy is used when there is no cure possible and the purpose of the treatment is to control the disease and offer the patient some relief.  The treatment can also be used as a therapeutic treatment where the therapy has survival benefits.  Radiation treatment is also used in treating thyroid eye diseases and in the prevention of keloid scar growth.   However the use of radiation in these areas is only used on a limited basis.

Radiation therapy is used as a primary therapy in dealing with tumors.  This therapy is often combined with surgery and chemotherapy. Therapy may also include draining lymph nodes if they are related to the tumor or if the cancer will spread because of these lymph nodes.

A machine called a linear accelerator is used in radiation therapy.  A linear particle accelerator or linac is an electric device used to accelerate subatomic particles.  This machine is used many ways including the generation of X-Rays for hospitals. The type of linac used depends on the type of particle being accelerated.  These particles could be electrons, protons or ions.  These devices vary in size as well.  They can be as small as a cathode ray tube or can be two miles long.  This machine creates high energy electrons or protons which are concentrated on the areas of the body that have been affected by the disease.

After undergoing radiation therapy, patients often end up with dry mouth. Dry mouth or Xerostomia is the lack of saliva the mouth.  Xerostomia is sometimes called pasties or cottonmouth.  Dry mouth can cause speech and eating problems.  It can also leads to halitosis and a dramatic rise in the number of cavities in your mouth since the protective effect of saliva is no longer present, and can the mucosa of the mouth becomes more vulnerable to infection.

When the production of saliva is reduced, anaerobic bacteria can multiply.  This bacterium produces foul smelling gases and produces waste products that make your breath smell bad.

To fight dry mouth the first thing to do is increase your liquid intake.  Make sure to keep your mouth moist to ensure that salvia production is going on a normally.  You must wash your teeth and tongue regularly and floss three times a day.  You also must adopt a stricter diet.   Anaerobic bacteria will feed on the residue of foods left in your mouth so it is very important to reduce the intake of particular foods or remove them from your diet completely.  Mouthwashes should also be used.

Remember to consult your doctor so that they can help you discover ways to reduce or eliminate your bad breath.