Does Fear Cause Bad Breath?

The question “Does fear cause bad breath?” is an interesting one. For many people who suffer from chronic halitosis, the condition can be absolutely debilitating. Some people exclude themselves from social situations and even become reclusive in fear of offending someone or being embarrassed. The idea of fear itself being a cause of bad breath isn’t as outlandish as you might think. It is similar to asking if fear can cause excessive perspiration or a similar condition. As the root cause, it is unlikely that fear would cause bad breath, but the apprehension associated with bad breath can be so extreme, especially in teenagers who are already socially awkward by nature, fear could most definitely exasperate the condition significantly. Is it possible that one could fear offending someone so much that the entire cause of their bad breath is rooted in fear? Let’s take a look.

We have all noticed at one time or another how the taste in our mouth changes when we are scared. Our patented fight or flight response is triggered when we become scared and our body dumps a huge amount of adrenaline into our blood stream to give our body the strength and intensity we need to either fight or run away. This overdose of adrenaline causes a coppery, metallic taste to flood our mouths. A healthy person only feels this way in certain circumstances, such as watching a scary movie or during a tense movie or sporting event. If you feel this way more frequently than normal due to any number of reasons, then it would be possible to have chronic bad breath that is connected to fear.

Most doctors will tell you, however, that if you constantly live in such a heightened state of fear, your breath should be the least of your concerns. This fight or flight response is only supposed to happen on rare occasions. Even though some people enjoy being scared in a controlled way, such as when you ride a roller coaster, no one could possibly enjoy being that scared so often that you develop chronic halitosis. You would likely be suffering from medical conditions, such as lack of sleep, chest pains and possibly dozens of other symptoms. If you feel that this is actually happening to you, seek medical attention immediately because the stress you are putting your body through is not healthy.

There are times in our life where we may be able to directly attribute fear to our bad breath. We have all been on first dates where we were a bit nervous, or even very nervous, and we might have needed a breath mint or piece of gum. The same goes for taking someone we care about to a scary movie. The idea, however, that one could develop chronic bad breath due to a constant influx of adrenaline into the blood stream is almost too incredible to believe. Does fear cause bad breath? It can, but if you are that scared, you should look for better things to think about than your breath.

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Can Fear Cause Bad Breath

It may seem like an odd question, does fear cause bad breath? But some people really wonder about this because they notice there seem to have more cases of halitosis when they are nervous or fearful about something. So what exactly brings this on? Is it the fear and anxiety itself, or something else? Does fear cause smelly breath, and if so, what can you do about it, if anything?

There are a few things to think about when considering this subject. The first is how the body changes when you experience extreme fear or anxiety. The heart beats faster to push blood and oxygen to the larger muscles of your legs, in response to the “fight or flight” mechanism. If you must choose “flight,” your legs will be ready. This means worse circulation in other parts of your body, which is why some people feel faint when they are fearful.

So, can fear result in smelly breath? Probably not in of itself. Foul breath is just a secondary symptom of those changes in your circulation and breathing. As the oxygen gets sucked from your system, so does moisture. This causes you to produce less saliva, and dry mouth is a cause of foul breath as well. This can happen as having a dry mouth provides a conducive environment for anaerobic bacteria to thrive. These bacteria are the culprit to why our breath smell most of the time.

But does fear cause halitosis in extreme cases? Some have thought that foul breath is a psychosomatic reaction to fear, meaning your body is doing what the mind tells it to do. What this means is that sometimes if you are afraid of your body doing something, it will. If you are afraid of developing smelly breath, you will. And when you are feeling fear in other respects, your fear of bad breath can be exaggerated as well.

And when considering the question if fear result in foul breath, you might want to also consider whether or not you are just more aware of an even mild case of halitosis when you are afraid of something else. For example, if you need to do some public speaking, you can become very self aware and suddenly think that you have terrible skin, a stupid haircut, and so on. In reality, you’re just being hypersensitive. A minor case of halitosis is being blown out of proportion along with everything else.

So, does fear cause bad breath? Probably not. You might get a bit more foul-smelling breath because your mouth is dry, but chances are you are just being overly sensitive.