My son's breath smells of poo

[Janey46]

I have taken him to the dentist who said he has no dental problems, I took him to the GP who was spectacularly unhelpful and just said it was one of those things but really it is utterly foul. Soon he is going to start getting comments from other children and he is quite a sensitive boy, I don't want this to destroy his confidence (he is 8yrs old)
Please does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to help him? I am really worried for him but no-one seems to want be able to help
Thanks

[Meekmill]

Hi. I have the same problem and I wanted to know if it worked for him and he don’t have bad breath anymore.

[teenyteen]

Hi I had same problem, took him to the doctors who checked his throat, nose and tummy. Turns out it is a build up of poo causing the poo breath! He's been prescribed movicol xx

[MrsOs]

Sorry didn't realise was an old thread ..

[MrsOs]

I would try a tongue scraper they are great. A toothbrush would never be able to remove the nasty stuff that builds up on the tongue. And I was reading only yesterday about sinus problems and smelly mucus going down the throat from the nose! Might be his sinuses x

[AnotherTimeMaybe]

This is an old thread but since you started it up again it's worth mentioning that usually bad death is bacteria in the mouth. There is a toothbrush with xylitol that does an amazing job killing them off its worth trying but unfortunately it's bit more expensive

[LYBarrett]

I am now in my forties and have suffered from this condition for decades, yet my dentist confirms every time how clean my teeth and mouth is. I also know that my problem has nothing to do with poor oral hygiene as I am the only one in my family who spends more than 5 mins brushing, flossing and tongue scraping, yet I still have a foul smell described as 'poo breath' which other people can smell, but I can't. It is share hell to live with, as I am not able to monitor it to see if there are anythings that make it better or worse... It appears to be a little known medical condition in the gastrointestinal system, but most people think it's because you have not cleaned your mouth properly.

[Janey46]

I don't think it is anything up his nose as it is a problem that has been coming and going over the past year or so. Mind you what do I know!!

I will try more liquid and tongue scraper and will be on high alert for stomach pains!!

[dontwanttobefatandforty]

could he have stuck something up his nose? This causes horrific breath, the stomach turning kind. Have GP check, you wont know any other way.

[Emphaticmaybe]

This may be way off mark but for the 6 months prior to my then six year old having acute appendicitis she had really awful breath. Like you I took her to the dentist and GP who could detect no underlying problems. We had always been fanatical about dental hygiene but I started making her drink an extra bottle of water a day - it did improve slightly but it was a couple of weeks after the appendectomy that I realised the bad breath had gone regardless of extra water or not.

DD's appendix ruptured and apparently was one of the most infected the surgeon had seen. I'm fairly convinced she actually had chronic appendicitis before it went acute, (a fair few unexplained tummy pains over the previous months) and this was what was causing the bad breath.

This may not be of any help to you at all but might be worth thinking about if your DS complains of any random stomach pains as i've since heard bad breath can be associated with an infected appendix.

Good luck - hope you get it sorted.

[Janey46]

A little update: saw GP who was useless! Couldn't see any tonsil stones (fair enough). Kept talking about tonsillitis and how that could be problem if the bad breath kept returning. I KEPT telling him DS has not had tonsillitis (I think I might have noticed if he had ) - he couldn't see any catarrh at all (there was loads this morning!)
He said, there's nothing anyone can do, suggested maybe I could take him to the dentist (I had told him about a minute earlier I had already taken DS to the dentist ).

So basically I am none the wiser. What next?! (apart from trying tongue scraper!)

[Saltire]

janey - I have had no pain or discomfort - well the odd bit when I had a cold - but it mostly the horrible taste/smell. The doc said it was a sinus infection causing the smell. It really was like poo, every time I leaned forward, or blew my nose, sometimes It was so bad I started to gag.
Sorry everyone TMI!

[ByTheWay1]

Yep really - not as often and not as big, but yes, I still get the odd one - maybe only 2 or 3 a year now though, and they do come out more easily - sometimes a cough in a particular way will dislodge...

[MsBrown]

Really, ByTheWay?!

I asked the Ent that exact thing: "Once dd's tonsils are out, will she definitely not get tonsil stones anymore?"

He looked at me llike i was mad. He said, "Of course that's what it means. No tonsils mean no tonsil stones."

I felt really daft, despite having read similar stories to yours - people still getting food etc stuck in crypts where there tonsils once were... Oh diddums.

[ByTheWay1]

Those who think it might be cured by removing tonsils ... I've had my tonsils out - but the place where they were can still collect the stinky crud.... sorry ..... I've found if I drink more with meals it doesn't get stuck, less of a problem.

[EllieCook]

could be tonsils - try getting him to eat some raw fennel. It's crunchy and quite mild in taste but I find it very cleansing. I use it on fast days (I do the 5:2 "fast" and on fast days sometimes the breath can be a bit .... unsocial.) :) I hope you find the problem!

[cocolepew]

My Dd would get really gunky eyes if she eats too much dairy (its snot over flowing from her sinuses, nice). Maybe it happens if he has a bit more than usual or you are on the right track with the lactose intolerance?

[Janey46]

Ok, so it is impossible to get a good look at his tonsils but I couldn't see anything like a stone when I did. Also, although his breath is awful you can't smell it when you walk in his room in the morning, only when you are close to him. I did notice two things though, one thing is his tongue is very furry (ick! In his defence he hasn't had breakfast yet or cleaned his teeth) and also despite me saying it wasn't the case yesterday , a thick yellow link of catarrh running down the back of his throat! Off to the doctors again I think!
I will also get them to have a look for tonsil stones while I'm there.
What concerns me though is if it is a catarrh thing this time, what has caused it every other time? Is he always have catarrh problems? I wonder if there is anything I can do about it?

[FossilMum]

I second MsBrown's suggestion as a possibility.

I'd never heard of tonsil stones before, but about 20 years ago one morning I coughed terribly and up came a ghastly foul-smelling lump that was obviously some horrid crud that had been stuck somewhere in my throat for some time, though without giving me any symptoms. Had a sore throat for a few days afterwards. Had suffered from recurrent tonsillitis as a child. GP had a look down and said that I had "unusually wiggly tonsils", that they looked a bit red, and that, yes, something had probably been stuck in there but was now gone.

[FaceLikeAPickledOnion]

Post nasal drip? Does he snore? My ds had terrible breath, nasal spray has helped a lot (prescribed by gp)

[MsBrown]

Nope, there's no other symptoms, Janey. Just the bad breath.

However, she often gets ear infections which the ENT has recently said are caused by the tonsil stones.

DD will often complain of having a 'yucky' taste in her mouth, being able to feel something at the back of her throat, and will sometimes lose her appetite when she gets a particularly large one which has built up.

But really, this past year, she's not been complaining as much. I think she's just got used to it.

The smell is the main 'give away' symptom though. When she has a large one, the smell is so bad you can smell it as soon as you walk into her bedroom in the mornings.

Definitely don't be put off going to the GP. Best your son hears you talking about his bad breath rather than other children talking about it in front of him at school.

I've actually started my own thread about dd's tonsil stones. The GP was very dismissive of them and said that bad breath wasn't enough reason to get her tonsils out. He clearly didn't understand how bad the smell was, and how it impacted my dd.

Thankfully the ENT has taken a more sensible apporach and has put her on the waiting list for an op.

If the smell is really bad in your son, you should be able to see the stone when you shine a torch in his mouth. However, it might be buried in one of the crypts in the tonsil, or behind a flap, so you may not see it.

They're horrible. And nothing gets rid of them except getting the tonsils out. No amount of gargling, changing diet etc will close over the holes in his tonsils, thus stopping bacteria/food building up inside them. Just in case the doctor says 'he'll grow out of it'.

[Janey46]

I'll DEFINITELY have a look for tonsil stones in the morning when he wakes up!
Does your dd have any other symptoms from the stones?

Part of the reason, I'm ashamed to admit, that I haven't taken him back to the GP is due to me. My mum is obsessed with bad breath and used to make a point of mentioning if I ever had bad breath. I remember one time she frogmarched me into school with a bottle of TCP and insisted that the school nurse make me gargle with it every lunchtime which of course made me smell even worse and stick out like a sore thumb. As a teenager, it was social death (thanks mum). Consequently I am also paranoid about bad breath but desperately don't want to pass that on to poor DS (very laid back dh agrees about his breath, it isn't just me being neurotic!) If I take him to the GP again and explain in front of him that his breath honks I am concerned he might start stressing about it

[DoctorAnge]

I would say tonsil stones as well. They smell like poo. It needs sorting out.

[Janey46]

Saltire - he has had this on and off for a year at least I think. He definitely has spells when it is worse/better. Not sure that would fit with the sinus infection? Have you had pain/discomfort with yours, he hasn't had anything like that.

Sorry if it seems I'm dismissing ideas, I'm just pretty sure it isn't some things (constipation or sinus) as I think they would have other repercussions (tummy ache/cold/headache) and perhaps be more concentrated whereas as this is a more sporadic recurring problem. I could be wrong though!!

[MsBrown]

Tonsil stones! My dd suffers terribly from them. I took her to the dentist too who told me she had perfect teeth, and her bad breath may be down to dehydration.

So i took it into my own hands. I got a torch and shone it inside her mouth. i could see a big yellowish stone jutting out of her left tonsil. I gave it a prod with a cotton bud and it fell out. The smell was foul. Like something had died.

Anyway, two years later, dd is on the waiting list to get her tonsils removed! No more bad breath.

Have a look with a torch and see if this is what your son has.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonsillolith

[MrsPennyapple]

I would go to another doctor and let them know you are unhappy that your concerns are not being taken seriously.

I have heard of this problem before on another forum, and other posters seemed to think it could be potentially serious, and they should see a doctor. I don't mean to alarm you, I just don't want you to be fobbed off by a doctor if there could actually be something that needs addressing.