Key Takeaways
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Brush your teeth twice a day, floss daily, and clean your tongue to remove plaque and kill bacteria in your mouth before they can cause bad breath or tooth decay.
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Use an alcohol-free mouthwash with active ingredients that kill harmful bacteria while protecting good bacteria in your mouth.
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Stay hydrated to reduce dry mouth and avoid sugary foods that fuel the growth of harmful bacteria.
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Support your oral microbiome with a consistent oral hygiene routine and tools like Dream Recovery Mouth Tape to reduce mouth breathing and bacteria buildup overnight.
Bad breath, bleeding gums, and a coated tongue are signs that bacteria in your mouth are out of control. The fastest way to fix this is to focus on the simple foundations like brushing and flossing daily, cleaning your tongue, staying hydrated, and preventing mouth breathing at night by using mouth tape.
If you’re wondering how to get rid of bacteria in the mouth naturally, this guide will dive deeper into what kills unhealthy bacteria in the mouth, how to disinfect your mouth safely, and how to maintain your good oral health long term.
Why Mouth Bacteria Are Harmful
Believe it or not, but your mouth is home to over 700 species of bacteria. Not all of these are bad, some are beneficial and make up a healthy part of your oral microbiome, while others are harmful bacteria that can contribute to bad breath, plaque, cavities, and gum disease.
When harmful bacteria are left unchecked, they can multiply fast. Especially if you eat sugary foods or have dry mouth. Here’s what happens if you don’t keep bad bacteria under control:
Consequence #1: Bad Breath
Certain bacterial species feed on food particles and release sulfur compounds. These bacteria
that cause bad breath to thrive when your oral hygiene routine is weak.
For a deeper dive into this topic, head to our guide on how to stop bad morning breath.
Consequence #2: Tooth Decay and Cavities
Bacteria that cause cavities feed on sugar, and as they break it down, they produce acid that weakens tooth enamel. Over time, this can lead to tooth decay and cavity formation.
Poor oral hygiene can lead to the buildup of plaque, which protects harmful bacteria and speeds up the damage they can do to your teeth.
Consequence #3: Gum Disease
Plaque buildup along the gum line causes inflammation. After a while, this inflammation and bacterial overgrowth can lead to gum disease, bleeding, and swelling. If left untreated for a long time, bacteria in the mouth can even start to damage soft tissue and even bone (this stage is known as periodontitis).
How to Get Rid of Bacteria in Your Mouth
If you want to kill the bad bacteria in your mouth and maintain good oral health, you need a consistent routine. Here are the steps that work best:
Solution #1: Build a Strong Oral Hygiene Routine
Before anything else, the best thing you can do for your oral health is to brush your teeth twice a day and floss daily.
Your routine should include:
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Brushing twice a day with a soft toothbrush
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Flossing daily, preferably in the evening, to remove plaque from your teeth
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Using a tongue scraper to remove bacteria
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Rinsing with an alcohol-free mouthwash
Be sure to replace your toothbrush every three months, since bacteria don’t just live in your mouth, they also collect on your toothbrush.
Solution #2: Use an Effective Mouthwash
Not all mouthwashes are equal! Choose one that contains active ingredients that kill harmful bacteria and yeasts, like xylitol and small amounts of essential oils.
A good mouth rinse helps freshen your breath and fights bacteria linked to gum disease and cavities.
However, mouthwashes containing alcohol can kill the beneficial bacteria in your mouth, which can be detrimental to the health of your oral microbiome, so always go for an alcohol-free option.
Solution #3: Stop Mouth Breathing with Mouth Tape
Mouth breathing causes dry mouth by increasing the evaporation of saliva. This can significantly increase bacterial growth, since saliva is essential for washing away harmful microbes and the acids they produce.
If you breathe through your mouth at night, you are creating the perfect environment for harmful bacteria in your mouth, which is why you might wake up with bad breath.
One of the simplest, most effective ways to stop breathing through your mouth is by applying Dream Mouth Tape before you go to bed, which gently seals your lips shut to ensure you switch over to healthier nasal breathing.
Read more on the benefits of mouth taping for sleep here.
Solution #4: Eat to Support Good Bacteria
Consuming foods that contain good bacteria on a daily basis can help balance your oral microbiome, too.
Examples include:
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Yogurt with live cultures
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Fermented foods
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Crunchy vegetables that help clean your mouth
Solution #5: Schedule Regular Dental Checkups
Regular dental check-ups allow a dentist to fill any cavities that might be developing and remove the plaque buildup that you cannot reach to help to prevent gum disease, bad breath, and decay.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Trying to Get Rid of Mouth Bacteria
Many people try to eliminate the bacteria in their mouth the wrong way. Avoid these common mistakes:
Mistake #1: Overusing Harsh Mouthwash
Alcohol-heavy mouthwash can kill good bacteria in your mouth. Unfortunately, when you wipe out beneficial bacteria, harmful bacteria can grow back stronger. Always choose an alcohol-free mouthwash with active ingredients like xylitol.
Mistake #2: Ignoring Dry Mouth
Dry mouth means less saliva washing over your mucosal membranes, which can fuel bacterial growth rapidly.
If your mouth feels dry in the morning, read about the best remedies for dry mouth during sleep and start mouth taping before bed to eliminate mouth breathing, one of the main causes of dry mouth.
Mistake #3: Skipping Flossing
Brushing alone does not remove bacteria between teeth. Food particles and plaque get trapped in tight spaces where your toothbrush cannot reach, which is where bacteria that cause bad breath, cavities, and gum disease thrive.
If you skip flossing daily, you leave harmful bacteria in your mouth undisturbed. Over time, this leads to tooth decay and inflammation along the gum line.
Feel like your bad breath is coming from somewhere deeper? Take a look at: How to get rid of bad breath from your throat.
Your First Step to a Bacteria-Free Mouth Starts Here
If you want to know how to get rid of bacteria in the mouth naturally, start with the basics of brushing, flossing, and using an alcohol free mouth wash.
Next, add in Dream Mouth Tape to prevent mouth breathing while you sleep, a common cause of dry mouth and poor oral health.
Explore Dream Recovery mouth tape and protect your oral health while you sleep.