Why You Have Heinous Bad Breath After Eating Dairy—and How to Fix It

Milk breath. Cheese mouth. The sour stench of worst-date nightmares. What the heck is this foul demon odor and how does one exorcise it?

First, you have to understand your enemy.

You probably don’t think about your mouth this way, but it’s technically part of your digestive tract. Chewing is only the first step of digestion.

“Imagine millions of bacteria feasting on particles of food and tissue in our mouth, some giving off smelly waste,” says David Krol, M.D., former chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Oral Health.

6 Reasons Your Breath Reeks - Other Than Bad Hygiene

You brush, floss, and rinse with mouthwash a couple times a day, avoid garlic bread on a first date, and always pop a mint after your morning coffee—yet somehow your breath still stinks. What gives?

Poor oral hygiene is not the most common cause of bad breath, says Harold Katz, D.D.S., bacteriologist, and founder of the California Breath Clinics. Most chronic bad breath is actually due to dry mouth: When you don’t have enough moisture, the bacteria that live in your mouth thrive.

“When you sleep at night there’s little or no saliva production,” explains Dr. Katz. “That’s what causes dryness and morning breath.”