Cape One Health

Article 7 in an occasional series on the causes of bad breath

Generally, sufferers of diabetes (diabetes mellitus, to give it its proper name) can, along with all the other symptoms they must deal with expect to have cope with bad breath. With diabetes comes a  biofilm on the tongue, ulcers, and increased sugar levels in tissues - all potentially causes of bad breath. Bacteria, too, grow much quicker in diabetic people than in non-sufferers. Bad breath in diabetes sufferers is often characterised by the smell of acetone on the breath.

Naturally this doesn’t mean that any bad breath means an individual has diabetes!