Any dentists? Child with bad breath

[whatcanthematterbe]

I’m getting desperate! DS (10) has had bad breath for weeks now, and I’m not sure what to do. I’m trying hard not to make him feel self conscious, so have not made a big thing of it to him, but I can’t figure out what the problem is.

He brushes his teeth 2 or 3 times a day with an electric toothbrush. Recently I have done it a few times to make sure it is done properly, but it makes no difference. He is brushing his tongue and the roof of his mouth. The smell is still there straight after brushing.

He has started using a mouthwash, but again this doesn’t seem to help.

There is no sign of anything in his mouth and his teeth all look fine.

I don’t really notice the smell if his mouth is just open, if he is just breathing. It’s mostly only noticeable when he talks. It’s a sort of stale smell, but unpleasant.

The dentist is closed, and I’m out of ideas. Has anyone got any thoughts?

Is he drinking enough water? My 7 year old’s breath is digesting when he’s not drinking enough

^^ same with my three year old! It's like something's died

I thought I’d update my thread, in case it helps someone searching in the future.

I spoke to the GP, who was surprised that dentists were closed (!), and said “but people must be getting treatment”. I explained that they weren’t unless it was a real emergency, and he told me that they wouldn’t be closed forever, that surely they’d open sometime.

I ended up phoning our lovely dentist to see if there was any advice he could offer over the phone / something we hadn’t tried. He suggested plaque disclosing tablets, which we tried, but could think of no obvious reason without an examination.

Poor DS kept plugging on with the water, brushing, tongue cleaning etc. Nothing helped, and I felt awful for not being able to help him.

One day, I noticed the back of his tongue had developed a thick white coating - oral thrush. Had a phone consultation with a different GP, who said it was possible the thrush had been further back in his throat and not visible before, prescribed a 7 day treatment, and the bad breath disappeared!

He is very relieved (and so am I!)

Thank you everyone