How to Get Rid of Bad Breath

Have you ever gotten the sense that someone you're talking to had a problem? Was their lip twitching at the corner? Their nose wrinkling slightly? If it wasn't your dress, make-up or political opinions, it just might have been your breath.

How can you tell if you have bad breath? If you've had any of the usual culprits like a lovely Italian dinner with lots of garlic bread, that might be a pretty obvious answer. So it's not a good idea on a date, or before an appointment with the boss to ask about a raise. Otherwise, discovering if your breath is bad, can be very difficult. A person's senses adjust to their body's usual state. If your breath always has an odor, it's not likely you're going to detect it easily. Two of the most common sources for odor are the tongue and teeth. You can scrape the back of your tongue with a dry toothbrush, wait 30 seconds and then sniff it. Or, you can floss between your back molars, and check for red or brown staining/dirt, and sniff it after 30 seconds.

The primary cause of bad breath is bacteria. Improperly cleaned teeth and gum disease are major causes. Bacteria builds up between the teeth and beneath the gums, producing that fetid smell. Proper flossing is a must, as well as a thorough brushing at least once a day. For the tongue, you can use a toothbrush to reach as far back as possible, and scrape the surface, rinsing the brush in between passes, and then rinsing your mouth. While this works, you can actually buy a U-shaped tongue scraper that does a better job.

During the day, saliva helps to wash bacteria out of our teeth and gums. People who are mouth breathers at night, may have "jungle mouth" in the morning, because of bacteria and nasal secretions at the back of the throat have built up overnight.

When all of these have been ruled out as a cause, and you have a stuffed nose or nasal drip, you might consult your doctor, because a sinus infection which drips down the back of your throat is passing along bacteria that can lay at the back of your tongue, and percolate into a bad case of halitosis.