Unless someone tells you that your mouth odor is offensive, it can be hard to tell if you have bad breath. You can ask someone, such as your partner or a family member, about your odor, but if you don’t want to subject them to such a question, there are a few ways to tell for yourself.
Sometimes you can feel the bad breath. If you have lingering tastes in your mouth, particularly things like coffee or garlic, chances are the scent is lingering too. If your tongue feels dry or you have that stale, gross morning feeling, your breath might be bad.
If you want to do a test to find out for sure, there are a few ways:
- Lick your arm and smell the area after it has dried for a moment. An unpleasant odor will give you a clue about your breath smell.
- Another way to tell is to use floss or a tongue scraper and sniff them after use.
- If you still can’t tell for yourself and suspect you have bad breath, you can always bring it up to your dentist, who will not only tell you the truth but can help you figure out what is causing it.
Mouthwash can help with bad breath. Some mouthwashes may only mask the odor, however, so you want to get mouthwash that will kill bacteria. Be careful of alcohol-containing mouthwashes, as alcohol can dry out your mouth and make halitosis worse.
Toothpaste
Any toothpaste will help with bad breath since it means you are cleaning your mouth, but some might work better than others to kill odor-causing bacteria.Baking soda is found in a lot of toothpaste, it balances the acids in the mouth and also kills bacteria.
Home Remedy List
Eating vegetables helps the body produce saliva. Herbs such as mint and parsley can also help you eliminate bad breath. The chlorophyll found in parsley works to fight bad breath, and you can get the benefits simply by chewing on fresh parsley.