Ever wonder what causes that sour taste in your mouth? We’ve all experienced it at one time or another, sour mouth, and bad breath. There’s one reason for that sour taste and bad breath, but there is more than one cause that may be behind it. Let’s take a closer look.

The Reason

Anaerobic bacteria are the culprits that produce the sulfur smelling bad breath, and sour taste you may experience in the morning. This bacteria that causes bad breath actually breeds on the back of your tongue so it’s only natural that you can smell and taste it’s sourness. Saliva breaks down this bad breath bacteria during the day. At night your saliva production is greatly reduced which allows the bad breath bacteria to multiply unchecked, accumulating on the back of the tongue. This results in a coating you can see, smell and taste.

Causes Behind The Reason

Post-nasal drip is one cause for sour mouth and bad breath. Nasal mucous is high in protein and actually feeds the bad breath bacteria, increasing its growth rate, resulting in sour tasting build-up and bad breath smell.

Heartburn may also be a source of sour taste and bad breath. If your esophagus relaxes during digestion, stomach acid and food particles are allowed to wash back up to the back of your mouth. The result? Sour, bad breath.

Finally, a condition called Zenker’s diverticulum allows some food particles to be trapped in a pouch in your esophagus. If you lay down after eating, the decaying food falls out of the pouch and winds up in the back of our throat, causing a sour taste as well as bad breath.

Conclusion

Any of these causes may induce the production of the bad breath bacteria that is the real reason behind bad breath and sour mouth. Using a tongue scraper will help to reduce the bacterial scum on your tongue that contributes to your bad breath, but any medical condition suspected should be checked out by a qualified physician for diagnosis and treatment. Bad breath and sour tongue may be symptoms of a larger problem.