This is really embarassing, but my girlfriend told me that my breath “isn’t good,” to put it nicely. I brush twice a day and try to always have breath mints, but it’s not working. Can you help me?
Thanks in advance,
Jake, Worcester, MA
Jake,
Bad breath can be a deal breaker in a relationship and you don’t want that. Unfortunately there isn’t one simple solution for bad breath so let me share a couple of things to see if it helps.
You are on the right track brushing twice a day because there are times when what you have eaten affects your breath. But you didn’t mention flossing, so this could be the source of your bad breath. Your mouth isn’t really clean until you’ve flossed. And the breath mints could be hurting you, also.
Good oral habits are the first line of defense. Brushing and flossing and even scraping your tongue may help. Also regularly visiting your dentist for a check-up to make sure everything is well is a good idea.
But more often than not, that bad smell is caused by any of the 600 bacteria in your mouth trying to keep balance with the food you eat. When the bacteria breaks down protein it leaves behind a sulfur smell. Trying a mouth rinse such as BreathRX (available from many stores or from dentists) helps eliminate offending breath by prohibiting the sulfur smell from forming.
Breath mints seem like a good solution for bad breath because they have a nice smell and taste, but it’s short-lived. They can cause an opposite affect. The sugars in the breath mints can feed the bacteria in your mouth and make your breath worse, not to mention the tooth decay that the mints promote.
You may also be interested in reading about teeth whitening.
This blog is brought to you by Enfield Dentist Dr. William Cummiskey.
