It is normal to wake up with bad breath.

But what about when you’ve brushed, flossed, mouth-washed, and not eaten any spicy food like garlic, and are still finding that your breath is less minty, more malodorous?

Good oral hygiene must be taken seriously if you want to avoid halitosis, but it’s not the only factor that can play a part in the smell that comes out when you open your mouth. Here are 5 other things that can cause bad breath.

READ ALSO: 5 foods you should avoid during pregnancy

Cutting down on carbs

Cutting down on carbs and upping your protein intake can be a major factor in whether or not you have bad breath. This is because they cause your body to break down fat for energy and create ketones. The excess ketones put a lot of stress on your kidney.

Skipping meals

Whether it is a deliberate attempt or you’re doing it for religious reasons, skipping meals can have a serious negative impact on the freshness of your breath. Avoiding meals or fluid slows than the production of saliva leading to breeding of bacteria which causes bad breath.

Chewing too much gum

Chewing gums in the short term after eating spicy food is not harmful. It causes serious health issues in the long term because they contain hidden sugars that leads to the accumulation of sticky plaque on the teeth. This also encourages the growth of bacteria and its effects may be worse than those of dry mouth in the long run.

READ ALSO: How to slay with a GHc 100 makeup budget

Dehydration

Drinking the recommended dose of H2O on a daily basis has many beauty and health benefits such as keeping your breath fresh all day. Dehydration can cause halitosis because bacteria that live in the mouth tend to multiply as the mouth dries out.

Strep throat

Strep is a bacterial infection, not a viral one, and those invading bugs can cause your bad breath to smell bad, says Dr. Grbic. Not only that, but other kinds of sinus infections can turn into bacterial ones that produce a smelly, pus-like type of mucus.