Diet tips for bad breath
1. Chewing gum can increase salivary flow, but only masks bad breath. Try drinking water throughout the day instead.
2. Before brushing use hydrogen peroxide to rinse the mouth.
3. Drink plenty of water throughout the day.
4. Excessive use of alcohol based mouthwash.
5. Chew on some cardamom seeds.
6. Anything that allows you to harbor more bacteria on your tongue, like tongue jewelry, increases your chance of bad breath.
Steps to Avoid Bad Breath
Bad breath is caused by a number of reasons ranging from the garlic and onions in the food you've ingested the previous night, gases from gastro-intestinal and dental problems and dehydration
to more serious diseases such as tuberculosis, cancer, syphilis and zinc deficiency. People suffering from a sore throat and tonsillitis also suffer from bad breath. An easy way to avoid bad breath
is to avoid drinking water during the meals.
This interferes with the gastric juices and can be responsible for causing bad breath. It is also important to practice a strict dental routine, visiting your dentist regularly to get your oral cavity
cleaned and also to ensure that you have no cavity problems. In addition to this you should brush and floss your teeth twice a day to keep your mouth clean and free of any infection. It is also
important to clean your tongue properly using a tongue-cleaner or your toothbrush since the tongue can harbor a lot of plaque and can cause bad breath. You should also use a mouthwash with a
fresh minty flavor to kill the bad breath. Green mouthwashes usually have thyme, peppermint or wintergreen, while red, spicy mouthwashes have zinc compounds which are also beneficial for
controlling bad breath.
Apart from these simple steps to avoid bad breath, you can simmer some quince seeds in water, strain the water and gargle using this water every night. This is very effective in controlling bad
breath. Figs are also beneficial for bad breath and thus you should have 1 tsp of fig juice every night before sleeping to reduce bad breath in the morning. This has the same effect as the sweet
liquorices water available in the Middle East. An easy way to cure bas breath amongst children is to simmer some lemon pips in honey and consume this while it is still warm. In addition to these
simple home remedies, parsley is said to be beneficial in controlling bad breath, so you can chew on some fresh sprigs of parsley and use it generously in your food preparations. You should also
avoid eating too much garlic since the smell of garlic lingers in the mouth for a long time. Other culprits in food that can cause bad breath and should be avoided are: onions, hot peppers,
pastrami, salami, pepperoni, anchovies and even certain cheese like camembert and Roquefort. You should also avoid coffee, beer, wine and whiskey since they cause plaque and drink a lot of
water to keep your mouth clean and as bacteria free as possible.
Scientis have long thought that smelling one's own breath odor is often difficult due to acclimatization, although many people with bad breath are able to detect it in others. Research has suggested that self-evaluation of halitosis is not easy because of preconceived notions of how bad we think it should be. Some people assume that they have bad breath because of bad taste (metallic, sour, fecal, etc.), however bad taste is considered a poor indicator.[20][21]Scientists have long thought that smelling one's own breath odor is often difficult due to , although many people with bad breath are able to detect it in others. Research has suggested that self-evaluation of halitosis is not easy because of preconceived notions of how bad we think it should be. Some people assume that they have bad breath because of bad (metallic, sour, fecal, etc.), however bad taste is considered a poor indicator. For these reasons, the simplest and most effective way to know whether one has bad breath is to ask a trusted adult family member or very close friend ("confidant"). If the confidant confirms that there is a breath problem, he or she can help determine whether it is coming from the mouth or the nose, and whether a particular treatment is effective or not.[22] One popular home method to determine the presence of bad breath is to lick the back of the wrist, let the saliva dry for a minute or two, and smell the result. This test results in overestimation, as concluded from research, and should be avoided.[2] A better way would be to lightly scrape the posterior back of the tongue with a plastic disposable spoon and to smell the drying residue. Home tests that use a chemical reaction to test for the presence of polyamines and sulfur compounds on tongue swabs are now available, but there are few studies showing how well they actually detect the odor. Furthermore, since breath odor changes in intensity throughout the day depending on many factors, multiple testing sessions may be necessary. Professional diagnosis If bad breath is persistent, and all other medical and dental factors have been ruled out, specialized testing and treatment is required. Hundreds of dental offices and commercial breath clinics now claim to diagnose and treat bad breath. They often use some of several laboratory methods for diagnosis of bad breath: Halimeter: a portable sulfide monitor used to test for levels of sulfur emissions (to be specific, hydrogen sulfide) in the mouth air. When used properly, this device can be very effective at determining levels of certain VSC-producing bacteria. However, it has drawbacks in clinical applications. For example, other common sulfides (such as mercaptan) are not recorded as easily and can be misrepresented in test results. Certain foods such as garlic and onions produce sulfur in the breath for as long as 48 hours and can result in false readings. The Halimeter is also very sensitive to alcohol, so one should avoid drinking alcohol or using alcohol-containing mouthwashes for at least 12 hours prior to being tested. This analog machine loses sensitivity over time and requires periodic recalibration to remain accurate.[23] Gas chromatography: portable machines, such as the OralChroma, are currently being introduced.[24] This technology is specifically designed to digitally measure molecular levels of the three major VSCs in a sample of mouth air (hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan, and dimethyl sulfide). It is accurate in measuring the sulfur components of the breath and produces visual results in graph form via computer interface.[25] BANA test: this test is directed to find the salivary levels of an enzyme indicating the presence of certain halitosis-related bacteria.[26] ß-galactosidase test: salivary levels of this enzyme were found to be correlated with oral malodor.[27] Although such instrumentation and examinations are widely used in breath clinics, the most important measurement of bad breath (the gold standard) is the actual sniffing and scoring of the level and type of the odor carried out by trained experts ("organoleptic measurements"). The level of odor is usually assessed on a six-point intensity scale.[1][7][28]