We all have bad breath every now and then, whether it’s because of poor oral hygiene, hunger, or the result of an onion-heavy meal. You can always brush your teeth or chew on a refreshing piece of gum, but if your bad breath isn’t going away, the smell can be an indication of an underlying health condition. For instance, one specific odor could be due to liver disease, the Cleveland Clinic points out. Read on to learn what smell on your breath should prompt you to get your liver checked, and for more signs of health problems that start with your mouth, check out If You See This in Your Mouth, Your Heart Attack Risk Is High, Study Says.
You should get your liver checked if your breath has a sweet, musty smell.
If your breath has a strong, musty smell—similar to rotten eggs and garlic—it can be a sign your liver is having difficulty filtering out toxins, an issue that likely stems from liver disease, Nancy Moyer, MD, wrote for Healthline. The condition, fetor hepaticus—which is nicknamed “breath of the dead”—is a result of toxic sulfur substances making their way into other parts of your body.
“When blood doesn’t pass easily through your liver, the toxic substances that would usually be filtered out by your liver make their way to other parts of your body, including your lungs,” Moyer explains. “When this happens, you might smell traces of these substances when you exhale.”
Liji Thomas, MD, describes it as having breath that is “sweetish, musty, and occasionally fecal in nature,” she wrote for News Medical.
It’s particularly important to be attune to something minor like this because “even in a stage of cirrhosis, the disease can be asymptomatic for many years,” according to the authors of a Belgian study published in the Journal of Chromatography B. They suggest that breath analysis might be helpful to detect liver disease.
And for another sign of liver problems, If You Feel This at Night, You Need to Get Your Liver Checked, Doctors Say.
Story continues
Someone with liver disease will likely experience other notable symptoms.
If your breath has a strong, musty smell—similar to rotten eggs and garlic—it can be a sign your liver is having difficulty filtering out toxins, an issue that likely stems from liver disease, Nancy Moyer, MD, wrote for Healthline. The condition, fetor hepaticus—which is nicknamed “breath of the dead”—is a result of toxic sulfur substances making their way into other parts of your body.
“When blood doesn’t pass easily through your liver, the toxic substances that would usually be filtered out by your liver make their way to other parts of your body, including your lungs,” Moyer explains. “When this happens, you might smell traces of these substances when you exhale.”
Liji Thomas, MD, describes it as having breath that is “sweetish, musty, and occasionally fecal in nature,” she wrote for News Medical.
It’s particularly important to be attune to something minor like this because “even in a stage of cirrhosis, the disease can be asymptomatic for many years,” according to the authors of a Belgian study published in the Journal of Chromatography B. They suggest that breath analysis might be helpful to detect liver disease.
And for another sign of liver problems, If You Feel This at Night, You Need to Get Your Liver Checked, Doctors Say.
Story continues
