Many people around us suffer from bad breath and the reasons behind it are several. This bad odor from your mouth can lead you to some very embarrassing situations. However, there are many simple tricks and tips which you can use to get rid of bad breath permanently. Some of these tips are given below.
1. Pay attention to the tongue
The first thing that you need to do is to make sure that you are taking proper care of your oral health because bad breath is most often of the result of carelessness in terms of oral hygiene. The decaying food particles and bacteria are the main culprit behind bad odor and that is why brushing and flushing your teeth is so much important. However, not many people pay much attention to their tongue. There are millions of filaments on the tongue which traps tiny food particles and bacteria which cause bad odor and, therefore, it is very important to clean your tongue properly.
2. Prefer sugarless gums over mint gums
Not many people are aware of the fact that the reason behind stinking breaths in the morning is the decrease in the production of saliva while you are asleep. For the very same reason, you suffer from bad breath when certain medications leads to dryness in you mouth. Saliva helps you to get rid of the bad odor by washing away food particles and bacteria. Chewing a gum makes you salivate even more by stimulating saliva production which eventually results in fewer bacteria in your mouth. However, mint gums only temporarily mask bad odor and does nothing to stimulate saliva production, so it is better to stick to the sugarless gums.
3. Drink more water
Water is perhaps the most useful compound ever known to man. Drinking lot of water not only helps you out in preventing bad breath, but also it has several other health benefits too. It is very much important that you make drinking water, a habit. It will help you to keep the level of bacteria in your mouth to a minimum level and at the same time, it will also prevent you from dehydration problems.
4. Eat a banana or apple
If you are having bad breaths then you may have already started avoiding those notorious stink foods like garlic, coffee, onion and cheese. However, this may lead to another problem known as the “ketone” breath which mainly happens when you are on a low carb diet. In that case, your body starts breaking fats instead of carbs for energy. This breaking of fats results in the production of bad smelling ketones, some of which even gets released into your mouth. In such cases, it will be best for you to have some healthy carb-rich snacks such as bananas or apples. This will take care of the energy requirements of your body, thus reducing the production of bad smelling ketones.
5. Listerine breath strips
Listerine breath steps come in a little tiny package and you can easily get one from a local departmental store. These listerine breath strips looks very much like mint strips of clear paper. All you need to do is to take one of these strips out of the package and stick on your tongue, and within seconds it dissolves leaving a fresh breath behind.
6. Mouthwash
Mouthwash are perhaps the best way to get rid of the bad breath instantly. Although it may nit eliminate the root cause of bad odor in your mouth, but still it can help you to get rid of it, momentarily. You can easily keep these small bottles of listerine in your desk. Simply rinsing your mouth after the lunch can do wonders. Not only, it will eliminate bad breath, but also it will make you feel refreshed.
7. Chew mint leaves
Now, this is something which has been in use for a very long period of time. Mint is the first thing that comes into mind when someone talks about the prevention from bad breath. But chewing mint gums is not the only way of having mints, especially those people who want that additives and other chemicals are not going into their mouth won’t prefer mint gums. The other way to have mints is to chew those fresh leaves directly. Most of the health food shops can provide you with fresh mint. Put some of these leaves in your mouth and munch on it throughout the day.
8. Altoids
Now, if you are in the favor of having something much stronger than mint, then altoids are certainly for you. Altoids are some seriously strong mints and if you haven’t had a taste of them earlier, then it is very likely that your eyes will start watering when you will have them in your mouth for the first time, such is their effect. However, a small dose of altoids will make sure that your breath remains fresh for the next few hours.
9. Floss
Not many people take this seriously, but really, flossing your teeth regularly can eliminate almost half of the reasons behind bad breath. Your gums will also get benefit from this habit. You must floss once a day, however, if your teeth and gums are sensitive, then try flossing every other day. There are several forms of floss available, choose the one which suits you best and is easiest to use.
10. Look out for the medical conditions behind bad breath
Medical conditions are very rarely the root cause behind bad breath, in most of the cases simple hygienic steps are more than enough to help you out in combating bad odor. However, sometimes dental and medical conditions might be the culprit. In that case, you have to consult your dentist. There might be cavities or decay in your teeth which may be the reason behind the bad breath and your dentist will be able to pinpoint it. If your dentist does not find a cause for your bad breath, then it is time to make an appointment with your doctor because on some rare occasion, bad breath might be a signal of a larger problem, such as infection and even liver or kidney failure.