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Bad
breath
How to decide whether you have bad breath
Do you have bad breath?
If you think that you have bad breath, it is worth finding
out what the true situation is. ‘Fresh breath centres’
have been set up in some cities, where the smelly chemicals
in your breath are measured by a ‘halimeter’. But
there are other ways of deciding whether you have bad breath,
such as the following.
- If you
find your gums bleed when you brush or floss your teeth it
is almost certain that you have bad breath as well.
- Inspect
your gums to see if they look red and swollen in places; if
they do, it is likely you have bad breath.
- It is
sometimes suggested that you can detect your own bad breath
by breathing out through your mouth into a paper bag, and
then breathing in rapidly from the bag through your nose.
You might catch a whiff by this method, but usually it does
not work because your nose is so used to your own breath smell.
- Put your
tongue out as far as you can; lick your upper arm, or the
inner surface of your wrist, wait 4 seconds and smell where
you licked.
- Buy a
BreathAlert device from a pharmacy.
You breathe into the battery-operated device and it gives
a reading in terms of one of four grades from ‘none’
to ‘strong’
- Put a
piece of gauzy cloth on your tongue, as far back as you can,
for a few moments. Take it out, let it dry and then sniff
it.
- If you
are a smoker you probably have smoker’s breath.
- Ask your
dentist or dental hygienist; they are very used to being asked
this question.
- Ask your
partner or a close friend, though they may tell you unprompted!
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