Bad breath is nothing to joke about and should not be taken lightly. Not only can bad breath be a sign of poor oral hygiene or a more serious condition, but it can ruin your social life. So to make sure you’re healthy and you don’t become known as the person with bad breath, follow these tips:
Always Brush Twice a Day
Cleaning your teeth regularly is the first step to fighting bad breath. You need to brush twice a day—morning and night, for at least two minutes each time. Brushing away plaque as well as the food that gets stuck in your teeth throughout the day and the bacteria that develops overnight helps keep your breath fresh and minty all day long.
Never Skip Flossing
Removing the plaque and food particles missed by brushing is of the utmost importance when it comes to your dental health. Allowing those missed pieces to stay between your gums feeds bacteria to grow in your mouth. That living bacteria creates a stench that might just label you as someone with bad breath. So remember, flossing isn’t just something the dentist wants you to do. It also is vital for bad breath prevention.
Don’t Forget to Clean Your Tongue
This common mistake is fiercely associated with bad breath. Sadly, too many people focus purely on their teeth and gums when brushing. The coating that develops on your tongue throughout the day and night is the perfect place for foul-smelling bacteria to thrive. So make sure after you brush your teeth and gums, you don’t forget to scrape your tongue down too.
Use Mouthwash Daily
This is another crucial step in your oral hygiene routine that should never be missed. Even with brushing and flossing, bacteria can still live, that’s where mouthwash comes into play. A good mouthwash actually kills remaining bacteria keeping your breath safe from every angle.
Stay Hydrated
Water is an essential tool to keep your mouth clean. Other drinks contain sugars that bacteria will feed off of and have the potential to cause bad breath. Water, on the other hand, rinses your mouth. Dehydration is not only unhealthy in general but also causes dry mouth and without saliva being generated the odds of you having bad breath are extremely high.
Maintain a Healthy Well-Balanced Diet
Your diet directly affects your breath. Sure, you know certain foods that make your breath smell foul, but keeping an overall healthy diet is more important than avoiding garlic. To prevent constant bad breath stay away from junk food and choose healthy food instead. Make sure your diet contains a good variety because too much of one thing (even if it’s a good thing) can cause bad odor.
Don’t Be a Mouth Breather
Breathing through your nose can be a life-saver (or social lifesaver) when it comes to bad breath. Breathing through your mouth, especially all night long while you sleep, can cause some serious foul smelling breath. So teach yourself to breathe through your nose so that your mouth isn’t constantly open to bacteria.
Make Regular Visits to Your Dentist
If you really want to keep your breath smelling fresh, don’t ever skip a professional dental appointment. If you have continuous bad breath it might be caused by a larger problem that your dentist will be able to detect. Even if you are not suffering from bad breath unrelated to oral hygiene, your dentist will be able to clean your mouth better than you can at home. So make sure you are visiting your dentist at least every six months.
At the end of the day, we want you to have good breath as much as you do. So make sure you’re doing everything on this list to ensure your mouth is healthy and your breath isn’t scaring anyone away.