How is Your Breath?

YOUR DENTIST AND YOU

How is your breath? Not sure? No doubt each of us has, at some point, unwittingly had bad breath (halitosis) only to be subsequently embarrassed by the reactions of others in response to it.

For any individual, the exact status of their own breath can be difficult to ascertain. Since noses tend to filter out and ignore background odours, it filters out and ignores the quality of our own breath. This means that it is quite possible for a person to have bad breath, yet not be aware of it.

If our noses can't reliably help us judge the quality of our own breath, how can we determine if we do have bad breath?

One solution is to ask the opinion of a spouse or significant other. If you don't feel you can ask them, ask your dentist or hygienist at your next dental appointment, after all, evaluating oral conditions is part of their job. If you find this type of question is too personal to ask an adult, don't overlook asking a child. If your children are as uninhibited like my son you'll get an honest re-sponse.

There are ways you can objectively smell your own breath. However, you have to take a slightly indirect route.

Try this technique. Lick your wrist, wait about five seconds while the saliva dries somewhat, and then smell it. What do you think?

That's the way you smell. Or, more precisely, that's the way the end of your tongue smells (your tongue's "anterior" portion). How was it? Did you pass this first check?

Now try this second experiment. It will check the odour associated with the back portion of your tongue (your tongue's "posterior" aspect). Take a spoon, turn it upside down, and use it to scrape the very back portion of your tongue. (Don't be surprised if you find you have an active gag reflex.) Take a look at the material that has been scrapped off, usually it's a thick whitish material.

Now, take a whiff of it. Not so bad? Pretty nasty? This smell, as opposed to the sampling from the anterior portion of your tongue, is probably the way your breath smells to others.

Most people overlook cleaning their tongue but doing this on a regular basis can be the single most beneficial treatment for bad breath (halitosis) that a person can institute.

The smell of the anterior portion of a person's tongue is usually less offensive than the smell found emanating from the posterior part.

The reason for this is related to the fact that the anterior portion of the tongue is somewhat self-cleansing and therefore less likely to harbour large numbers of odour producing bacteria. Many tongue functions require that the front portion of the tongue touches firmly against the hard palate. This friction produces a cleansing action, therefore preventing any significant bacterial accumulation.

There are various techniques that you can use to clean the posterior portion of your tongue. Each of these methods, however, has the same goal, to scrape away the bacteria and debris that have accumulated on your tongue's surface.

No matter which method of tongue cleaning you choose to use, you should try to clean as far back on your tongue as possible. Don't be surprised if you find you have an active gag reflex. Gagging is a natural reaction but with time the intensity of this reflex should diminish.

Discover how I cured my nasty Bad Breath here.

Source - The Freeport News - Bahamas

Copyright 2009