At some point in your life, you will experience bad breath. Even though this is a normality, it won’t aid you in making new friends, acing that job interview or boosting your confidence to chat up that guy you’ve had your eye on for a couple of days now. With proper oral care, bad breath or halitosis can be avoided and cured. Here are a few tips on how to eradicate that less than pleasant oral malodour:

Brush and Floss
Your mouth contains millions of bacteria. As a matter of fact, there are probably more bacteria produced in your mouth than there are cells in your entire body! Scary right? This makes it difficult to know exactly how to combat the odours that all those bacteria give off as a by-product when they digest their food. Nonetheless, there are a few things you can do to beat the bad breath caused by germs. The first step to getting rid of bad breath is keeping your mouth clean.

Although you can try to kill bacteria with a mouthwash, this is only a temporary solution and should not be relied on because bacteria do grow back over time. It’s best to brush your teeth thoroughly at least twice a day. Brushing your teeth is more important than the type of toothpaste you use. You should also floss at least once a day. This will help remove the food trapped between your teeth, as well as the food trapped in the gum line. Otherwise, both of these areas would provide breeding grounds for bacteria. If food particles are left to linger, bad breath is inevitable.
    
Clean Your Tongue
As important as it is to brush your teeth, it is just as important to brush your tongue. This is because the rough surface of the tongue is home to a potentially foul-smelling combination of dead cells, food debris, bacteria and the by-products of bacterial digestion – factors that all contribute to less-than-fresh breath. Although there are bacteria located on the top of your tongue closest to your throat that actually protect against foul-smelling breath, there are other types of bacteria that produce pungent odours as they multiply. This is where the importance of brushing your tongue comes in.   

Brush your tongue with your toothbrush after you brush your teeth. Simply go over the front of your tongue very lightly with the tips of your toothbrush’s bristles. Take special care to not damage your sensitive taste buds. For a more effective scrubbing, use a tongue cleaner. Gently scrape the front of your tongue with the plastic tongue cleaner. This handheld device is designed to scrape the surface of the tongue and remove odour-causing debris from its surface. Rinsing with a mouthwash can also help keep your tongue clean.

Stimulate Your Saliva, Stay Hydrated
Your mouth can become dry anytime of the day and a dry mouth can quickly cause bad breath. As you get older, you are more likely to get dehydrated without even realising it, which can result in bad breath.  Saliva helps clean your mouth; it’s naturally antibacterial, and it washes away food particles. To keep your saliva flowing throughout the day, stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water. Making drinking water a habit is not only vital for your health but also helps to keep bacteria in your mouth at a minimum. If you can’t brush your teeth after a meal, drinking a lot of water can help speed up the process of cleaning harmful bacteria and debris from between your teeth. Even a quick swish of water can make a huge difference. It may not be a substitute for brushing your teeth, but it is a great way to clean your mouth after meals on the go. This will help rebalance your mouth’s pH levels and may help remove some of the food particles left in the mouth after a meal and prevent bad breath from setting in.

You also could stimulate saliva production by sucking on a mint or chewing gum, but these are only temporary solutions. Don’t rely on mints. A mint may mask bad breath for a while, but the smell will break through eventually. This is because mints don’t kill the bacteria causing mouth odour. It’s even worse if the mint contains sugar. It will act as a buffet for the bacteria in your mouth and will continue to rapidly produce and release the by-products that cause bad breath.

Use Nature’s Cures
Parsley may not be your idea of dessert, but chewing on that parsley garnish or sipping on parsley juice after a meal could do wonders for your breath. This is because parsley contains chlorophyll which is known as a breath deodoriser. It helps to neutralize internal body odours, thereby reducing the smells that emanate from the body — including bad breath. Other herbs that also have this effect would be mint, basil, cilantro and dill. While these herbs offer a quick solution to rancid breath by masking oral odours temporarily, they can also provide long-term benefits for bad breath.

Other alternatives would be spices such as cloves, fennel, or anise seeds. These are natural breath enhancers and should be chewed on after meals for instantly fresher breath. Cinnamon also works. There are certain compounds found in cinnamon that reduce odour causing bacteria and not just mask bad smells like other flavourings do. Add some cinnamon to your tea, preferably green tea as it has antibacterial compounds that fight the germs in your mouth, and stinky breath will never have to be a problem again.  

Know the Culinary Culprits
The foods you eat can influence the way your breath smells.  You probably expect some foods to give you bad breath, such as garlic or onions, but some bad breath culprits may surprise you. Meat, for example; even after you have eaten it and washed it down, meat particles still collect at the gum line, get stuck between teeth, and sometimes work their way under fillings or crowns. This is where bacteria are reproduced and smelly breath is the consequence. It is therefore important to keep your mouth clean through brushing and flossing regularly.  

High-protein and low-carbohydrate diets aren’t good for your breath. Eating fewer than 100 grams of carbohydrates a day triggers a condition known as ketosis, a metabolic state that causes your body to burn fat instead of sugar. Ketosis is known for causing bad breath. So, make sure that you are eating correctly and that your diet is balanced.

There are, however, certain foods that smell good and that promote good smelling breath. Fruits such as melons, berries and citrus fruits that are high in vitamin C, something that doesn’t sit well with the bacteria in your mouth, will kill the bacteria instead of continuing to reproduce them. The more vitamin C-laden fruits you eat, the more oral germs you’ll kill.

Other foods that help cure unpleasant smelling breath are raw, crunchy fruits and vegetables. Celery, carrots and apples are all good options to munch after a meal because these fiber-packed foods will help remove any food that’s stuck in your teeth. These foods also stimulate saliva, which is detrimental to bacteria.

We often forget that what we drink can cause bad breath too. Consuming an acidic beverage, including soda, coffee or alcohol, will release compounds into your bloodstream that will, in turn, rele
ase odours through your breath. Acidic drinks also lower the pH level in your mouth. A lower pH level allows bacteria to flourish and may leave your breath with a smell similar to a rotten egg. Not pleasant at all!

And, that’s it! Follow these simple tips and bad breath will never have to be a problem again. If, however, your bad breath persists, it is possible that your bad breath is caused by a medical condition. It is then best to visit the doctor – something a breath mint definitely won’t be able to replace!

Article by: Kelly Abrahams

And, that’s it! Follow these simple tips and bad breath will never have to be a problem again. If, however, your bad breath persists, it is possible that your bad breath is caused by a medical condition. It is then best to visit the doctor – something a mint definitely won’t be able to replace!