There’s no way of getting around it: bad breath is embarrassing. We feel embarrassed for the person that sends a whiff of odiferous funk our way during a conversation, which is perfectly fine. After all, that same person would feel the exact same kind of embarrassment if the stinky breath was heading from your mouth to their face. The good news here is that on your end, bad breath doesn’t have to be a thing.
The Seven Steps to Stop Bad Breath Before It Starts
There are seven solid strategies that you can deploy to make sure bad breath doesn’t insert its foul smell into your conversation. Better yet, they’re all easy to follow through on, so you’ll be able to incorporate these strategies into your everyday routine.
The strategies are:
- Practice good oral hygiene – Simply by following through with basic daily teeth and mouth cleaning will go a long way into helping your breath remain fresh and smelling well. This includes brushing your teeth at least twice a day and flossing once daily. It’s also wise to brush your tongue at least once on a daily basis and rinsing your mouth with antibacterial mouthwash after each brushing.
- Schedule regular dental visits – Be faithful in scheduling an appointment with your dentist every six months. Doing so will help them detect and take care of potential issues that could cause bad breath, such as a medical condition or a dental problem. Your dentist can also provide you with tips on how to carry out at-home oral hygiene care properly, such as proper tooth brushing or flossing techniques.
- Stay away from tobacco products – It’s common knowledge that using tobacco products can potentially subject you to a litany of serious health problems. It can also cause your breath to smell foul because of the nature of the substance. If you’re a smoker, come up with a strategy to quit. Doing so will help you in ways that go beyond solving your chronic breath issue.
- Drink plenty of water – Staying hydrated will help your body perform at an optimal level. It will also help keep your breath clean. The reason for this is because it helps keep your mouth hydrated, even in situations when saliva production wanes, like after heavy exercise or after a sleep. And keeping your mouth moist is critical, because it helps to prevent odor-causing bacteria from settling within your mouth.
- Make wise dietary decisions – The stuff you eat can play a big role in keeping your breath from smelling bad. While some foods are notorious for proliferating foul breath, such as onions and garlic, others are not as well-known for their bad breath-inducing qualities, such as acidic foods or foods high in fructose. Minimizing the consumption of these foods can minimize the production of the bacteria that causes stinky breath.
- Have a glass of wine – This solution may be a bit surprising, simply because there’s wine involved. However, studies indicate that drinking red wine in moderation can put the kibosh on bacterial growth. If you go this route, be sure to consistently rinse your mouth with water afterward to prevent teeth staining.
- Chew sugarless gum – Popping a piece of sugarless gum in your mouth will help keep your mouth moist, as the presence of gum and the associated chewing action will stimulate the production of saliva. It will also help clean out food particles from your teeth.
It’s Not that Difficult
By integrating a few simple steps into your day-to-day life, bad breath won’t be something you’ll have to really worry about. In fact, there’s a decent chance you’re already doing some of these steps, so you may be fighting the proliferation of bad breath without actually knowing you’re doing so.
