There's a way people cup their hands around their mouths to smell their own breath. This trick is not always accurate, and it may leave you thinking your breath is okay when it's probably not.
Or that your breath is not okay when it actually is. The best way to go is to ask someone to do it for you. And if the person says your breath isn't neutral, don't worry too much. There are home remedies for bad breath that can help.
What Are The Possible Causes Of Bad Breath?
This is not hard to tell. There's no mystery there. Ninety per cent of bad breath originates from the mouth. A kind of bad odour from the mouth that may occur as a result of poor oral hygiene, gum disease, and dental cavities. Also, bacteria that live in your mouth can cause your mouth to produce smells. When you don't take time to brush your teeth well, plague, a thin film made of bacteria forms in your mouth. Poor dental hygiene is the most common cause of bad breath. Rarely, some cases of bad breath originate from somewhere else in the body. Intestinal disorders and infections such as heartburn, acid reflux, ulcers, and infection.
Home remedies for bad breath
The following home remedies can help dispel bad breath.
Improve your oral hygiene
This is the commonest cause of bad breath. Some people don't brush their teeth often enough. You're supposed to brush your teeth twice a day, once in the morning and once before bed. While some don't brush their teeth very well. It is easy to get bored during brushing and rush through it, skipping some parts of your mouth without washing. Also, bacteria can easily accumulate on the surface of your mouth. There's a process called tongue scraping. It is the act of scraping the film of bacteria that have collected on your tongue.
Water
It may come as a surprise to you that the drier your mouth is the more likely you are to have bad breath. Saliva helps keep bacteria away from your mouth. The reason why most people have bad breath in the morning is that at night your mouth is usually without saliva. So you are encouraged to drink a lot of water during the day to keep your body hydrated. This, in turn, helps the production of saliva.
Pineapple juice
There's a popular belief that pineapple juice works wonders for bad breath, but there's no scientific evidence to back this up apart from anecdotal evidence. You can use this one of two ways. Either you eat the slice for about two minutes or you drink the juice. But make sure you rinse your mouth to free it of the sugar in the pineapple afterwards.
Yoghurt
The healthy bacteria (lactobacillus) contained in yoghurt helps with bad breath by fighting the bad bacteria in your gut. According to research, 80 per cent of participants who used yoghurt to fight bad breath recorded a reduction. Also, prebiotics in yoghurt is essential for reducing bad breath. Eat at least a serving of yoghurt per day. Non-fat and plain.
Orange
The consumption of orange helps in dental hygiene. Oranges have vitamin C that helps boost the production of saliva. And in turn, saliva helps keep bacteria from the mouth.
Apples
According to one study, if you have garlic breath apples can help fight the powerful effects. There are some natural compounds in apples that helps neutralize the lingering smell the compounds in garlic produces. And it just doesn't try to remove the smell, rather apples reach for the underlying cause. Apples neutralise the garlic compounds right in the bloodstream.
Baking soda
At home, you can produce your own simple and effective mouthwash with baking soda. It is easy to prepare. Just fetch two tablespoons of baking soda and pour in warm water. Swish in your mouth for thirty seconds and then spit out. Baking soda is known to quickly kill bacteria. That is why tubes of toothpaste having a high concentration of baking soda tend to reduce bad breath.
Most problems of bad breath start and end with the mouth. But occasionally there is the bad breath that originates from other health problems like kidney failure or infection. If this is the case, please see your doctor for treatment.
Source: Healthline
This article was first published on AfricaParent.com