DS says my breath smells!

[Stressingismyhobby]

He keeps telling me whenever we’re close together and I’m speaking. He’s 8 so I’m not sure if he can just smell something eaten like garlic or if I actually have bad breath.

I don’t want to ask an adult to check for me as I’m too embarrassed. How can I tell if I have? I’ve tried licking the back of my hand and checking (gross, sorry!) but I can’t smell anything. My oral hygiene is good - I try to floss regularly but lately it makes my gums bleed in a couple of places - could that be a sign of an oral health problem??

When you say regularly, do you floss every day? I find that if I don't floss every day, that's when my gums bleed!

Can you maybe make a dentist/hygienist appointment?

I must admit, I don’t always do it every day but I do it several times a week. I’ve just found there are 2 specific teeth where the gums always bleed when I floss at the moment.
Yes, I think I need a trip to the dentist…

Your gums bleed because you're not flossing. Keep at it and slowly you'll see they won't bleed.

Get your blood sugar levels checked…high blood sugars cause acidosis which makes your breath smell of acetone or pear drops.

Thank you both - will get checked out.

is it coffee breath?

Bad breath can come from the stomach. Try taking those little drink bottles of good bacteria and see if it improves.

Ho and see dental hygienist

Tonsil stones? They can be minging!

Kids can be brutal about breath.

DD will sometimes say mine or DH's smells.

If mine did I might not know (though I visit the dentist regularly and have no issues), but I can categorically say DH doesn't have bad breath. Sometimes it smells of the food he's just eaten, but it's not bad.

I think she just means that she can smell it... rather than it smells awful.

We've told her it's a perso al thing to say, and that it could hurt people's feelings, which seems to have stopped her saying it (out loud).

I don’t drink coffee so it’s not that. I’ve had tonsil stones before but not now.

Do you brush your tongue properly? That's where most of the smell comes from.

Also, do you drink enough water?

No I don’t brush my tongue!!! I think I drink ok though

I only recently discovered that tonsil stones exist! And that you can buy quite cheaply on Amazon a little water spray (bit like water pistol) which shoots water at tonsils and washes them out. Tried this to solve bad breath and turns out so many tiny bits of trapped food were rotting away at the back of my mouth 😱

So:

• clean your tonsils
• scrape your tongue with brush
• floss
• ask dentist if it smells and what else you can do.

I bet its tonsil stones.

You don't brush your tongue? That's probably a big reason your breath stinks right there.

I’ve never heard a dentist suggest I should brush my tongue?!

It's not going to affect your dental health I believe but the bacteria does sit on your tongue (where there is also moisture which makes it worse), so there will be a smell.

Try brushing your tongue for a week, I promise you'll feel a difference.

When you first brush your tongue , you will retch , but persevere and you will soon be doing it ok.