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More than just making that make out session all the more enjoyable, fresh breath is a sign of health while the opposite can be a symptom of more serious health issues.
In my career as a massage therapist I’ve worked in very close contact with 1000s of people. Fresh breath is a vitally important for a good therapist if you want repeat business and don’t want to offend your clients so I’ve made it my business to learn how to maintain fresh breath without even having to worry whether or not my breath stinks. Adopting clean living habits and good hygiene help avoid the problem from being an issue.
Some underlying causes you may not realize can have an adverse affect on your breath like gum disease – which can cause all sorts of health issues including heart problems. Sinus or upper respiratory infections, GERD, dry mouth, uncontrolled diabetes, poor fitting dentures and crowns can also be culprits. Certain medications can be a source of problems – especially ones that dry out your mouth and prevent saliva from washing away bacteria and particles. Some examples are antihistamines and some antidepressants like Zoloft and Wellbutrin.
After addressing those issues, the following tips will go a long way to creating confidence in having great oral hygiene.
Tips for fresh breath:
Brush your teeth after eating. The sooner the better as some foods can wreck havoc on your teeth after just 5 or 10 minutes. Acid from colas can damage tooth enamel within a few minutes, while milk can neutralize the acid; milk and coke isn’t a tasty combo in most people’s eyes.
Floss at least once a day people. Every dentist will tell you that if you were only going to floss or brush your teeth, they’d tell you to floss. And how many of us really think not brushing is a good idea?
So you can see the IMPORTANCE of flossing. Not only does it prevent tooth decay, but bacteria can get into your blood much easier through your gums.
Tongue Scraping: Scrape your tongue at night and morning. There are stainless steel tongue scrapers available to the tune of $20 or more, but I find using the dull edge of a butter knife works just as good. Doing this at night will eliminate a lot of bacteria that would normally multiply while you sleep – thus giving you that lovely morning breath – especially nice if you don’t sleep alone.
The way to do it is to stick your tongue out and drag the dull edge of the knife from the back of your tongue to the front – do this over a sink and rinse off the knife – do it until you don’t see any white coating on the knife blade — make this a separate article on how to tongue scrape. Be careful to not make yourself gag and possibly throw up. You also want to do this without putting on a show unless you enjoy grossing others out.
I’m not one for those plastic tongue scrapers you can buy. Stainless steel tends to do a better job – I think it has to do with the same reason you can rub your hands on stainless sinks to help eliminate onion and garlic odors.
H2O intake: Drink at least 1 oz of water per 2 lbs of body weight each day – not including water loss from sweating or exercise.
For example, if you weigh 100 lbs try to drink 50 oz. or about 4 12 oz bottles of water spread it throughout the day.
A good habit is to have a glass as soon as you wake up. It helps gets things moving. Muscles like to be hydrated too as they are less likely to cramp up.
Essential peppermint oil -a company called TIB sells a good one – can be a great instant breath freshener, but use it very sparingly – a drop will go a LONG way.
Eat plenty of fresh fruits and veggies. Along with all the great nutrients and water content, they are great body cleansers which will have an effect on your breath.
Fresh parsley and mint leaves can help offset garlic breath caused by that tasty but garlic infused Italian dinner.
I’ve found in my experience that vegetarians often smell better than meat eaters and their breath is often sweeter as well.
Things to avoid:
No coffee or smoking. Some of the worst breath I’ve been subjected to has been coffee-halitosis breath with a side of nicotine. Bad enough to make me gag. It can be so bad that they don’t even have to be breathing in your direction to smell it or catch a whiff.
Don’t use mouth wash: My dentist and countless other resources say it’s really unnecessary and if you do use it too much, it kills cells in your mouth causing decay and rot and thus bad breath making the problem worse instead of helping it.
Limit your intake or eliminate red meat, pork and chicken. Meat can take several days to go from consumption to elimination and that means putrefying in your digestive tract – not a pretty thought. This in turn can affect the quality of your breath.
Avoid foods like garlic and onions and peanut butter and certain spices and curries. Even though garlic is good for you, we all know that if you’re the only one eating it, everyone else suffers.
Roasted garlic is delicious, but if you eat too much – like a whole head, you will likely be smelling it out gassing from your pores and breath for the next day or two – not to mention you will be spending some extra time in the bathroom… and it won’t smell too good.
So take these tips and make them part of your daily habit and you’ll soon have reliable, kissable breath that’ll be ready when the mood strikes.
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Source by Terry P Carter