Toddler Breath Is Stinky!

My daughter had bad breath one time so bad I couldn't stand to be next to her. It was a real bad sinus infection. She didn't have a runny nose or anything. After the antibiotics, the bad breath went away.

I have worked for a dentist for 13 years now as a dental assistant. The reason children have really stinky breath is because they have a lot more active bacteria and most of them are mouth breathers. Trust me I know... I have a 6 and 3 year old and it smells like some thing has died in there mouth. Maybe useing a little kids mouth wash befor bed would help. Just as long as they dont drink it.

Continue to brush his teeth twice at least twice a day. Maybe on the weekends three times. Yes, I would give him some water as well that seems to help. It is a struggle to brush my 20 month old daughters teeth as well. It is a battle that I don't look forward to every morning and evening :)

Talk to the pediatrician about this, it could be several things causing bad breath.

S. K

My daughter's sitter mentioned to me that when her kids were teething they both had bad breath. Is it possible that's what's going on and it will pass? I think as long as you're brushing regularly, you're probably ok, but if you're concerned you might ask your son's pediatrician at his 2 yr checkup.

My little one had the same issue a few months back. I brushed and flossed and nothing seemed to work..until she started sneezing more and I figured it was probably her sinuses/allergies. I gave her Benadryl to help with the sneezing and a little congestion and pushed plenty of water. Within a few days it went away. So now when this happens I just do a repeat and it works.

Good Luck

Hi A.. I don't really have an answer for you, but something to check out. Maybe your son has sinus drainage. I've had to deal with this all my life - no runny nose or rarely other symptoms, just drainage down my throat. It causes horrible bad breath. I've lived on strong mints (like Altoids) and gum most of my life to combat this. I don't know that this is his situation, but wanted you to think about the possiblility before you take away all his flavored drinks, etc. Those flavored drinks may be a salvation to the bad taste in his mouth too. Hope you find a solution that works for you. Sincerely, C. D., Grandmother to a 4 year old and 14 month old

Not to sound gross, but it happened to my daughter. She just plain stunk! It turned out that she had put a small object way up her nose and it was getting really ripe.
It took a doctor to get it out and the smell went away immediately.

My kids usually end up having an ear infection or sinus infection when they get bad breath that won't go away. This was often the only clue I had with my older son since he never complained of ear pain.

Just something to keep in mind!!

I haven't experienced this, but I've heard several stories that you may want to look into. It could be that food or something is stuck up his nose. I know it sounds gross, but it happens, and it causes bad breath that you can't get rid of no matter how hard you try. You may not be able to see it, but if it starts getting worse, you may want to just have a dr look in his nose just to check. If it's food, it starts rotting making it smell worse. Gross I now. . . possibility though.

How are his sinuses? My girls get bad breath when they have a sinus infection. Lots of allergy yuck in the air-- just a thought!
A.

I really don't know what could be causing it, but you can take him to a Dr. or a Dentist at this age. I know that a lot of people water down juices and I do believe that getting more water in everyone's diet is the best thing to do at all times, but I don't know if that will solve your prob, sorry.

My daughter has this problem now, she is almost 3.. Its only when she wakes up in the morning though, I think it has to do with drinking lots of milk before bed.. She used to have stinky breath 24/7! When she got her tonsils and adenoids out that stopped

A.:
Does he have allergies? Has he had a cold, cough, sore throat, sinus infection, runny nose, ear infection? Does he have large tonsils, adnoids, etc? Does he have acid reflux, stomach aches, etc?
Any of this can cause bad breath just as much or more than what he is consuming! Might want to check into these or see an Ear, Nose, Throat Dr. or stomach Dr. if it continues on for a long period of time with no other found cause!

Just a suggestion!

T.

Hi A.,

My daughter had this. It was food intolerances.

1. If you have remotely decent dental hygiene, the problem is not originating in the mouth. It comes up from the depths of the gut. A rotting gut produces a rotting smell. Looking into this is a pretty sound bet.

2. There could be different things assaulting the gut. Too much sugar and yeast overgrowth are certainly culprits, especially with all of the junk kids eat today. Sugar, by the way, includes crackers, pretzels, all processed snacky stuff, bread, pasta, juice, fruit, as well as all usual sweet stuff, etc.

3. Other HIGHLY common gut sabatogers are gluten (protein in wheat, barley and rye) and casein (protein in milk). The best lab for testing is www.enterolab.com. Order test kit online, send in specimen, they email you the results - no doctor referral needed. Website is a good source of info as well. It is estimated by the Director/Researcher of this lab that about half the US population has a problem with either or both of these very common childhood diet items. If you look at your child's diet, the liklihood is that 80% of it is either gluten or dairy.

4. Regarding the posts regarding allergies, sinus, ear infections, tonsils, etc. etc. etc. - all these may not be causes of bad breath, but contemporaneous symptoms of the underlying food intolerance, which will lead to all these problems as well.

5. Conventional GI doctors do not properly evaluate and diagnose the magnitude of food intolerance problems in our population. They typically do blood and skin scratch tests, if they ever make any connection at all. These are substandard tests. Stool test by Enterolab is better.

6. A good treatment to consider to clean up the gut would be cleaning up the diet and adding a probiotic.

Good luck!

My kids always drink juice and their breath does not smell... you might ask the Dr. Do you brush in the morning and at night? that might help...

Good luck
apirl J

My son had a silver cap placed over a baby tooth. He had stinky breath that would not go away no matter what we tried. When the baby tooth fell out much later, we saw that it had rotted away underneath the cap. (His pediatric dentist never caught that).

Stink went away immediately. And we changed dentists!

I agree with Misty. There could be something up his nose and it will make his breath stink and will not go away.

Also, it could be signs of an infection like a sinus infection.
I would take him to the doctor and see what it is.

It could be a sore throat OR yeast overgrowth - juice or too much sugar in the diet overall can contribute to that. My experience with my kids in daycare years ago is that almost all the food they serve is very starchy. You might try bringing in some fresh veggies for him to have at snack time (e.g., celery with peanut butter, baby carrots, even apple slices or orange slices would be better than what they usually serve).

More water would help, but the best thing would be probiotics - that would help if he's getting lots of infections as well - 70+% of immune function is in the gut. If that doesn't help, then ask the doctor about nystatin - that's the mildest Rx anti-fungal. Also, if his tongue is white, that's a sure sign of yeast - gentian violet is the alternative solution - that is what worked best for my family (nystatin did nothing for my younger son, who is prone to these fungal infections). It's available OTC at pharmacies, but you'll have to call to find one that has it or ask them to order it. Warning: this stuff stains! Which shouldn't be as much of a problem for a toddler as it is with a crawling infant, but I would make sure he rinses his mouth out after about 30 minutes.

He could be starting to get sick. Its the first sign i notice when my boys start to come down with something.

I have found that when my daughter's tonsils/glands are swollen in her throat due to drainage from colds or allergies etc. is when her breath really stinks. It's nothing you can really do orally to get rid of it but you might check w/ your pediatrician to make sure there's no problems going on in his throat. My daughter's usually goes away in a week or so if it's just drainage.

You may just need to take him to see his Pedia.They have so many solutions and they specialize in that area.The first thing you want to be concerned about is what is safe for his age group.Better to be safe than sorry. The solution may be simple,but as parents we should see what's safe for the babies, and what the Docter recommends may be the safest and best thing for him.;o)Hope this helps,good luck!

I agree with most of the other posts...Probably not juice, but just sinuses or he could be getting sick. I have twin boys and both have mild allergies (just like me unfortunately) and seems like when they get either a sore throat (from drainage) or stuffy nose, they wake up with bad breath. Usually just means they arent breathing as well from their nose so they sleep with their mouth open. I wouldnt be too concerned, but definitely mention it to your doctor.

I agree with Kathy B. Take him to the doctor and check to see if he has pushed something up his nose. Happened to a friend of mine too.

Not much to add here other than a "Yeah, That" sign pointing to Jean S.'s response!!