I suspect I might have bad breath

[BWrose]

I noticed a good few times over the past few months, people covering their noses when I'm near by and talk. Surely, they all want have cold noses. I suspect I have bad breath.

I look after my teeth reasonably well. I brush twice a day with a soft bristle brush. Spend at least two minutes brushing. I floss but admittingly not every day. I have a waterpik flosser too.

I have a fear of the dentists and it's been years since I went. Until Xmas week. A back tooth broke and I had to the dentist. He saved my tooth and booked me in for a clean and polish afyer Xmas and my appointment was last week. Tartar was removed.

There wasn't any comment from the dentist about the health of my mouth only that he wants to see me back in 6 months.

My mouth was terribly abused over the past decade with an energy drink addiction but I gave that up last year. Now I'm repulsed at energy drinks.

Since my tooth broke I gave up sugar in my teeth. Over the Xmas there was many chocolate temptations with I refrained from.

I was flossing last night and I used a new strand of floss for each tooth and afterwards I sniffed. It was ok except for one tooth in particular. The smell.was horrific. I dread to think this is what my breath smells like.

Have you not got any honest friends?I'd sniff in a heartbeat for a mate if not its a trip back to the dentist I'm afraid-you do need to sort this out (good luck)

I was hoping the clean and polish might help things but after flossing last night, I'm worried.

I'm disappointed in everyone in that not one person would tell me. I asked my mother not so long ago and she said ah don't be silly and sure we all suffer from bad breath at times. So it wasn't veen a straight yes or no. She read about a mouthwash in a magazine and she's been harping on about it since to buy it for her.

I vape and that causes dehydration. I'm doing my best to up my water intake and drink water and to swish it around my mouth before swallowing. There are days thot where I'm can't out and life gets in the way and I'm no way near a water source or a shop. Yesterday was one of them days. I had a bot of water but I drank it but I was stitch thirsty and my mouth was dry.

I just started on a vitamin c supplement over the weekend. I also started using a new toothpaste. I will do my best to up my water intake and see how things are over the next week.

If over the next week, there is still a bad smell, what do I say to the dentist for making an appointment?

Do you brush your tongue? Really simple thing I’ve been doing since childhood really helps freshen your mouth and breath. I think it works better than mouthwash. But if the smell comes from one tooth then I’d go back to the dentist and see what’s wrong.

I was always told that to find out how your breath smells, you should lick the inside of your wrist using as much of your tongue as possible- as far back as you can- and when the saliva has dried, smell it.

@Icannot I just tried that on the train as I’ve been worried about my breath since eating curry at lunch...got some very odd looks!

Op do you have a partner or very good friend you could ask?

I brush my tongue.

I read about licking my wrist before and I tried that before but I didn't smell anything. I will try again later when I'm free and try as much of the tongue as possible.

I have a partner and he's never pulled back from kissing me. He's usually very eager to kiss me.

I stuck out my tongue as far as I could licked my wrist and waited a minute to dry. I sniffed my wrist. My wrist doesn't smell bad. It's not fresh but it's not bad, awful, horrific. Not like the way my floss was last night.

Scrape a clean spoon along your tongue then smell it. Should work. I learned this a few years ago!

It's that tooth though isn't it. I have a new dentist recently and she has filled in loofas of holes I didn't know about and my smile looks great! Make an appointment and tell them you want a thorough check up because of this smell. Sounds like it's easily sorted x

I can try the spoon thing later and see how I get on.

I used floss this morning before brushing my teeth at that spot and it didn't smell as bad as last nights piece of used floss. I brushed my teeth and used floss again and sniffed and it didn't smell bad right after brushing my teeth.

I will floss later tonight and smell again.

Flossing is the key. Bad breath is usually caused by the smell of food between your teeth decaying. Floss after every meal. It becomes addictive! I am an obsessive flosser now.

Maybe tonsil stones, horrid little yellowy lumps of food and such that collect in any crevices in your tonsils. Try and have a look in the mirror, they are smell disgusting.

I would recommend a course of probiotics, (the capsules you buy from a health food shop, not the actimel yogurt type).

My husband and I do dance lessons together, and a few times over the years I've noticed his breath smell, and this always goes after a short time on probiotics. His teeth and gum health are good.

Do you drink coffee? I have noticed on some peoples breath that this can smell really bad (not to be crude, but like dog poo).

Floss every day. When I brush my tongue, I really go for it and do it repeatedly.

That for the probiotics recommendation. I will put in an online order to the local health food shop.

I like coffee but rarely drink it because it leaves me thirsty. I'm a heavy tea drinker. About 4-5 cups a day.

Try Biotene mouthwash you can get it at Boots for around £6 it is for people with dry mouths. They do toothpaste, gel etc but I would try the mouthwash.

I have the biotene mouthwash already on my bathroom counter. ☺️. I like it.

Zerobaby,

Can I ask - what probiotic does your partner use?

I did a search for probiotics and it's a mindfield.

I came across a few meant for oral health

@BWrose, when it happened a few years ago he took Probio7. In November he took these ones from Natures Best They also did the trick quite quickly.

It's an obvious solution but chew gum, a sugar free minty one, I always chew after every meal or if my mouth is dry. Try to avoid fruit flavoured gus as they smell like vomit!

Thanks zerobaby for the probiotics. I saw that online while I browsing. I'm in Ireland so I bought a different brand but it has the same probiotics as the brand you recommended.

Youcouldbemy...

I always had a stack of chewing gum with me. A sugar free peppermint or spearment. I saw people holding their nose even if I was chewing gum.

A tooth broke before the Xmas. Since that happened I'm afraid of hard foods and chewing gum too. I have boxes of sugar free, xylitol mints now.