Are you suffering from halitosis or bad breath?
Halitosis is the medical term for what people generally call chronic bad breath. Though not a serious health condition, bad breath can negatively impact your personal life. Having persistent bad breath can display your personality as a negative one. People spend millions of dollars yearly just to have access to quality oral care products. Plus it is a condition that can affect anyone and everyone.
There was a misconception earlier that stomach ailments cause bad breath. However, now it is a widely known fact that 85-90% of the times this problem arises in the mouth. Tonsil stones are also sometimes responsible for this.
If you are suffering from bad breath, the people around you would usually refrain from telling it in order to save you from being embarrassed. That is why you yourself have to diagnose the presence of this condition.
The general method of cupping your hands around the mouth won’t really help. The following tests can help:
- Use your non-dominant hand to pull out the tongue and hold it. Wipe the back of it using a clean cotton sob for some 15 seconds. Smell the sob after a few minutes. It would give you an idea of how your mouth smells.
- With the help of an unflavoured dental floss, clean the area between your teeth. Smell it after a few minutes and you can understand how your mouth smells.
- Having a bad taste in your mouth frequently is also an indicator of bad breath.
- Frequent drying of mouth or presence of thick saliva also suggests halitosis.
- Do people offer you mints of chewing gums quite more than expected?
- If people step back slightly while they are having a conversation with you, chances are that your breath does not smell good. Ask a trusted person, family or friend about the same. The conversation may be embarrassing but would prevent you from embarrassment in front of strangers.
Another misconception which is still believed is that proper oral hygiene can treat the issue. That is why people go on buying costly toothpastes and mouthwashes. These oral hygiene tools only act as a temporary solution and cannot solve the fundamental problem.
The immediate fixes that people use like flavouring agents, breath mints, chewing gums, etc. also only act as a cover up.
Would you like to learn more? Schedule an appointment with us by contacting our practice and learn more about bad breath prevention. Our Dentists will also recommend you the treatments and solutions for the same.
Related topics
Oral Hygiene in EDUCATION
Teeth Cleaning in PREVENTIVE DENTISTRY