Bad breath is not something most of us want to be worrying about. In a perfect world we would all have perfect breath all the time – with a hint of wintergreen, peppermint or perhaps fresh flowers. We do not live in a perfect world however, and just about everyone has to worry a bit about bad breath once in a while, even if it’s just the typical “morning breath.” There are things you can do to eliminate or reduce the possibility that you will be causing people’s eyes to water because of your less-than-delightful breath. Try these simple tricks to keep your breath fresh.
1. Brush And Floss
Your first thought might be “Duh!” upon reading that, but remember that it says brush and floss. Brushing is something most of us probably do, but it’s easier for people to just blow off the flossing part. It’s a bit more complicated compared to brushing and might seem unnecessary, but it really helps because it removes food from between the teeth that tends to be an excellent place for odor-causing bacteria to gather and multiply.
2. Clean Your Tongue
So who thinks about cleaning your tongue when you brush your teeth? Brushing is something we’ve all heard about endlessly but what about cleaning your tongue? It turns out that the tongue is another place that’s particularly attractive to bacteria which are expert at hanging around and causing unpleasant odors. It’s quite easy to simply brush your tongue while you are brushing your teeth, and if you want to get really serious about it, you can pick up a tongue cleaner in many of the same places that sell toothbrushes.
3. Stay Hydrated
Staying hydrated is known to be important for your overall health, but not everyone knows that a dry mouth is a friendlier environment for those smelly bacteria. Saliva is nature’s way of keeping your mouth clean and it even has antibacterial properties. Since we are less likely to be aware of how dry our mouth gets when we are sleeping, we tend to awaken with a dry mouth frequently and the accompanying “morning breath” along with it.
4. Candy, Mints and Gum
These can be great temporary solutions to a bad breath problem but they all wear off pretty quickly unless you keep shoveling a steady supply into your mouth. The problem with these solutions is that they simply mask the odor of bad breath and don’t do anything to actually stop it. In some cases, the sugar that is contained in these things will actually feed the bacteria in your mouth and make things worse. When you’re out and about, these things can help, but there is no substitute for a clean mouth.
5. Food
What you eat can have a tremendous effect on the freshness of your breath. While it’s not a surprise to anyone that things like garlic can cause bad breath, there are other foods to watch out for that might not be so obvious. Meats are a good example. They are famously good at getting stuck in between teeth and after a while the odor that is produced as they begin to break down is definitely not something you want coming from your mouth.
6. A Quick Rinse
Believe it or not, taking just a few seconds to rinse your mouth with plain water after eating can help reduce bad breath. It not only helps flush out some of those food particles that can promote the growth of bacteria, it can also help get the pH levels in your mouth back to normal which helps keep bad breath at bay.
7. Natural Solutions
Sure, you can carry a little bottle of mouthwash around with you all day and freshen up your breath periodically but a lot of those store-bought solutions have chemical ingredients and other things that you may not want to be putting in your mouth all day. Green tea is an excellent alternative which you can keep with you to sip all throughout the day. Green tea contains natural antibiotics that help control the population of germs in your mouth. if you’re a hardcore natural food fan you can even chew on things like basil, cilantro, dill, mint, or parsley, which all contain chlorophyll, which fights bad breath.
8. The Dentist
It’s well-known that some people have fear of seeing the dentist that borders on panic attack territory. Still, there’s no getting around the fact that good oral health and hygiene are the best defense against bad breath. There is no better place to ask questions and find answers to problems like bad breath than from your dentist.