[manaboutown]

Does anyone suspect they may be suffering tooth decay, receding gums or just plain old bad breath from wearing a mask? '''Mask mouth''': Dentists coin new term for smelly side effect of wearing a mask | Fox News

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by manaboutown

Does anyone suspect they may be suffering tooth decay, receding gums or just plain old bad breath from wearing a mask? '''Mask mouth''': Dentists coin new term for smelly side effect of wearing a mask | Fox News

I never have to wear a mask more than for 2.5 hours or so and that is when I am donating platelets at One Blood.

[davem4616]

We're not out and about long enough wearing masks that this would be any concern of ours...and we go to our dentist 3X's a year anyway for routine checkups

There's a lot of rumors going around regarding wearing a mask....everyone of them that I've heard is really silly when you stop and think about it. Keep in mind, there haven't been any legitimate controlled long term studies done on the impact of wearing a mask
...so all this 'stuff' about masks is just speculation or plain bull

IMHO tooth decay, receding gums and plain old bad breath is a result of neglect...and was most likely present long before someone started wearing a mask

that said, ya can't wear the same mask day in and day out without washing it...or if it's a throw away disposing of it

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

It's the whole mouth-breathing phenomenon when you're wearing a mask. It's a little more difficult than usual to breathe through your nose when it's covered with a mask. So many people start breathing through their mouths instead. Mouth-breathing can contribute to dry socket and tooth decay, and subsequent bad breath.

If you wear a mask as part of your job, it's important to try and remember to breathe through your nose as much as possible. If you start feeling claustrophobic, add a little hand sanitizer to your fingers. While they're still moist (not very wet) from the sanitizer, pull the mask outward away from your nose, take a few deep breaths, and let the mask fall back into place. This will actually help sanitize the outside of your mask, AND keep your hands sanitized, all at the same time.

[billethkid]

In a designated profession where masks are part of their every day work day, we do not hear or see such ridiculous warnings.

However when dealing with the general public which abounds with the naive, gullible, uninformed and paranoid......Katy bar the door....oh my GOD the sky is falling....

[rjm1cc]

I guess employees in the medical field would have been having these problems for years.

[Dgizzi]

Originally Posted by manaboutown

Does anyone suspect they may be suffering tooth decay, receding gums or just plain old bad breath from wearing a mask? '''Mask mouth''': Dentists coin new term for smelly side effect of wearing a mask | Fox News

I only wear a mask when a store request. No other time

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by rjm1cc

I guess employees in the medical field would have been having these problems for years.

Many of them do. Dry socket, bad breath, and tooth decay are all potential consequences of breathing through your mouth instead of your nose.

Some doctors are really great at breathing through their noses when they have a mask on. Some are not. The ones that are not, have a higher risk of dry socket, bad breath, and tooth decay.

You can look it up, you'll find plenty of documentation about the phenomenon on pubmed, medline, the CDC, the ADA, etc. etc. etc.

It's not about the masks. It's about the mouth breathing. Which happens more often when people wear masks.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by billethkid

In a designated profession where masks are part of their every day work day, we do not hear or see such ridiculous warnings.

However when dealing with the general public which abounds with the naive, gullible, uninformed and paranoid......Katy bar the door....oh my GOD the sky is falling....

I was thinking the sky has already fallen

[sdeikenberry]

I can't believe I'm reading this statement! I wore a mask for hours and hours daily working in surgery for 35 years, and my teeth are pretty darn good. Good grief!

[Coal Miner]

My guess is that you have always had bad breath, but with the mask on you can actually smell it

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by manaboutown

Does anyone suspect they may be suffering tooth decay, receding gums or just plain old bad breath from wearing a mask? '''Mask mouth''': Dentists coin new term for smelly side effect of wearing a mask | Fox News

I think that is a reach.

Tooth decay is caused by the prevalent bacteria that lives in your mouth. Receding gums can be helped by vigorous brushing and deep cleaning. Sometimes bad breath comes from an infection in your throat or esophagus.

[Rosebud1949]

Bad Breath !!!!! Yet another excuse not to wear a mask to protect yourself , family, loved ones and oh yes.. OTHER FOLK from getting the virus.. Just a couple of hours a day when grocery shopping or visiting a Dr. or other business.... will save lives.......Shame on you

[DecaturFargo]

Gee, medical personnel wear them all day everyday. Haven't heard one complaint. Btw, they have been doing this in the OR and ICU for decades. Scsre tsctic.

[MandoMan]

Originally Posted by manaboutown

Does anyone suspect they may be suffering tooth decay, receding gums or just plain old bad breath from wearing a mask? '''Mask mouth''': Dentists coin new term for smelly side effect of wearing a mask | Fox News

Judging from the number of people who cover their mouths with masks but not their noses, there must be a lot of “mouth-breathers”. [from the Urban Dictionary: “ TOP DEFINITION Mouthbreather
1. Someone who is really dumb
2. A person who doesn't/can't breathe through their nose.]

Perhaps they think that when they breathe, they don’t use their noses, so they can’t catch anything through their noses or can’t give anything to others through their noses. They DO meet the first slang definition above.

I don’t think wearing masks contributes to tooth decay or gum problems. Remember, your mouth is the dirtiest part of your body in any case (for some people, in two ways). Also, it is already bathed in saliva. Normally, the germs in your mouth are swallowed and quickly sterilized by stomach acid.

However, some of you may have noticed that if you wear the same disposable mask (or unwashed cloth mask) day after day for a half hour while you are in a store or somewhere else where you need a mask, it smells nasty when you breathe in (assuming you aren’t a mouth-breather, so you can smell through your nose). That’s the smell of various sorts of germs from your mouth, your nose, and your lungs that you have breathed onto your mask. (Okay, well, sometimes also the fragrance of what you ate for dinner.) These germs were trapped by your mask as they are supposed to be and are now multiplying rapidly in the residual moisture in your mask. They smell much worse than your breath normally smells because they are essence of germs. Also, everyone has some really nasty smells deep down in their lungs, and a deep sneeze or cough will dredge them up and distribute them onto your mask. If you leave your mask open on your dashboard in the sun, probably most of these germs are killed, and the smell is not so bad. Of course, when your car’s windshield is in the sun is probably when you are somewhere where you should be wearing a mask.

I see disposable masks for sale in a lot of stores these days, from Sam’s Club to WalMart to Lowe’s. They seem to cost about fifty cents each. I don’t think they are up to the quality of the average operating room mask I wore for years, but they filter and slow down projected particles. If you use disposable masks, replace them daily or after several hours of use. If you use cloth masks, have a bunch of them and wash them well in detergent and hot water and ideally dry them in the sun. Don’t reuse them without washing them. (Fabric softener and softener sheets in the dryer may sort of glue together cloth fibers and keep them from working as well, though they will feel softer.) Remember, there are incoming germs on your mask as well as outgoing germs. Sometimes, these germs are trapped in your mask because they are mixed with moisture. If that moisture dries, however, without the germs all dying, they can sometimes now be breathed through or blown through the mask, in or out, because they may be released from the moisture and so smaller and lighter.

Here’s another trick you probably don’t want to know about. When I was an operating room technician back in the early seventies (I started at 17), our OR kept a bottle of oil of cloves in a cupboard. If we had a surgical case with a lot of pus involved (a horrible smell), we would each put a drop of oil of cloves on our mask. This didn’t kill the infection, but the smell of the cloves covered the smell of the infection so we didn’t throw up from the smell. Maybe your breath isn’t that bad, but still, it works. Better to just put on a new or clean mask, though.