For one reason or another, bad breath seems to afflict people and they do not know what to do about it.

Treating bad breath therefore becomes a priority. Perhaps you have had a tooth removed recently, and ever since that happened, your breath has been smelling bad. It is only natural to want to do something about the problem, and quickly. So here are some ways of treating bad breath.

1. Floss your teeth. No matter how thorough you believe your dental hygiene is, flossing the teeth is a vital part of the battle against bad breath. You can easily prove this to yourself, by first flossing, and then smelling the flossing tape. Not a very nice thought, is it? But if you want to know, then that is a way to tell. Very often it is the small food particles which stick to the tape that smell bad.

2. Here I write from my own experience. If you have recently had a tooth extracted, and you have this bad taste in your mouth, it could be a sign of gum disease, which is caused by the build up of plaque. If you suspect this might be true of you, then it might be wise to book a visit to the dentist.

3. Using a tongue scraper first thing in the morning helps get rid of the bad breath which has built up overnight. Many people know that morning bad breath feeling, and the reactions it brings from others close by. They shy away from you.

4. Avoid your mouth becoming too dry, especially after meals. An effective way of stopping bad breath due to this cause is to drink plenty of water through the day. Keeping yourself topped up in this way helps wash away the leftovers of food in the mouth. Drinking water after taking coffee helps get rid of bad breath as well.

5. Sugar free gums or mints are a good standby when you need a quick fix for bad breath.

6. Gargling with a mixture of apple cider and water is supposed to be helpful in stopping bad breath.

There are many ways of treating bad breath and if all else fails, or if you find you cannot get rid of your bad breath no matter what, you should seek medical advice.

IMPORTANT NOTE – The author is not medically qualified, and you should always seek medical advice.

In this article I want to share with you my seven tips for preventing bad breath.

This is what I do, and it might help you as well. When I wake up each day, the one thing I most to try and avoid is a morning bad breath. This means that unless I take some simple steps to avoid bad breath my breath is likely to smell when I first wake up in the morning.

Morning bad breath is when I have a dry mouth and there is very little saliva present. When this happens, the first thing I do is have a drink of water. That makes me feel better as well. Well all know drinking plenty of water is healthy, which is another good reason for drinking it.

When I go to the bathroom I stick my tongue out in front of the mirror, because I want to check that it looks a healthy pinky colour. If it does not, and my mouth still feels overly dry, I brush my tongue and that gets rid of the dirty colour and my breath feels a lot fresher afterwards. If you have never used a tongue cleaner before, as I had not, the first time you use one your tongue feels like new. No exaggeration.

When I am out and about, I do not want to see people trying to dodge out of my way when I talk to them, because my breath smells. That is just too embarrassing, both for me and for the person I am talking to. On a personal note, preventing bad breath is important in my struggle to keep my breath smelling fresh each day.

All I need to do is put myself in the other persons place, and I know I would not like too stand close to someone who’s breath stinks. But, as we all know, it does happen.

Here are my 7 tips for preventing bad breath.

1. I clean my teeth at least twice every day, or after mealtimes. Then I clean my tongue, which in my opinion is the most important thing I do in my daily fight to keep my breath smelling sweet.

2. I floss my teeth. By removing those stubborn particles of food lodged between the teeth, I am preventing the build up of bacteria in my mouth.

3. I use a tongue scraper. I only started using one of these recently. Before then I did not scrape my tongue at all. Until you use a tongue scraper, you will never experience that wonderful fresh feeling it leaves on your tongue afterwards.

4. Do not smoke. Chewing or smoking tobacco makes the breath smell foul.

5. I try and drink enough water during the day so my mouth never feels too dry. A dry breath usually indicates a smelly one.

6. I like to eat onion and garlic, in moderation. I know these foods cause bad breath, but I chew a little parsley after eating garlic. I think it helps, but you never know for sure if others can still smell your breath.

7. I practice a variation of the yoga technique called the cleansing breath, where I breathe out for as long as possible after breathing in. I believe it helps in bad breath prevention. Doing this gives me a mental lift as well, which is useful if you have been using your brain a lot recently.

I hope you have found these seven tips for preventing bad breath helpful, and that perhaps you can use some of them yourself.

Disclaimer, try these at your own risk.

Preventing bad breath is largely down to altering your eating habits. If you habitually eat spicy foods containing onion and garlic you can expect to have bad smelling breath. The solution then, if you want to stop bad breath, is to avoid or reduce these foods where possible.

Cultivate the habit of eating parsley with your food because it cleanses the breath. How much of it you choose to eat is up to you, but a mouthful or so works for me. The only problem with this solution is you have to buy it fresh and keep it fresh because it does not stay fresh for long.

Drinking plenty of water will ensure your mouth does not become too dry and thereby cause your breath to smell. The water also helps to remove loose particles of food which tend to lodge between the teeth after eating. If they stay there, they will cause the breath to smell.

Eating a balanced diet with fresh vegetables helps keep the tongue clean of mucous and so keeps it from causing bad breath.

Bad breath can be socially embarrassing for all of us.

The trouble is, we do not always know when our breath smells. Other people do though and polite society means they are not going to tell us when it smells, unless they know us well enough to mention it.

Even when you clean your teeth after drinking a cup of tea, it does not seem to take the smell away completely which means people can still smell your breath.

When we smell bad breath on other people we automatically try and shy away from that person, as the smell can be so awful.

I hope these tips help stop your bad breath.