How to Stop Bad Breath

Whether in ourselves or others, halitosis (bad breath) is one of the "joys" of life we could do without.

Encountering someone with bad breath is unpleasant for several reasons. In the first place, foul-smelling things are usually toxic and therefore present some danger. We are hard-wired to avoid danger. The message we instinctively send ourselves is disturbing and instantly grabs our attention. In effect, it says “run away.”

But, being the civilized folks we are, we override that urge.

Consideration for others’ feelings usually causes us to conceal our repulsion. We endure the olfactory onslaught pretending that everything is as it should be. To do otherwise would be insulting to the bad breath bearer.

That is one option.

Another option is to confront the bearer of the noxious odors. That takes courage. How can we delicately convey an indelicate message? If the halitosis belongs to stranger, we generally make the choice, “not to get involved.” How should we handle the smelly “assault” from a friend? A co-worker? A loved one? These stressful social dilemmas are a second source of unpleasantness caused by bad breath.

Quickly, it occurs to us that since the bearer of those odors is unaware that he is giving offence, what if we are doing the same? Suddenly we imagine ourselves trading places with our “adversary.” That is a third source of stress and unpleasantness.

We must be concerned about how to stop bad breath.

It’s a tricky problem. How can we stop doing something if we don’t know whether we’re dong it?

We need to find out. Most of us cup a hand in front of our face, breathe into it and then inhale the air thus “trapped” to attempt to detect an odor. Research, however, shows that doesn’t work. Nevertheless, effective ways to detect bad breath do exist. You can seek the help of a friend, a dentist or an electronic sniffing gadget. Probably a combination of all three is the best bet.

If we’re going to find out how to stop bad breath, we need to know not merely whether or not we have it, but why we have it. What is the cause? If our car doesn’t start because the fuel pump is pooched, then putting gas in the tank will be no help at all. To do so would be a frustrating, expensive waste of time.

Having cleared “if” and “why” hurdles, we need to get rid of the bad breath. There are lots of options. As long as the cause is from the activity of too many of the wrong type of microbes in our mouths – the situation in the great majority of cases – we can accomplish wonders on our own.

We can also do considerable harm if we don’t acquire some expertise. Being too aggressive - and most people have that tendency - can seriously damage the teeth and gums.

Some products, labeled “safe and effective” are suspect despite prestigious assurances to the contrary.

Finally, success at eliminating bad breath by “waging war” on our oral microbes might get us out of the frying pan and put us into the fire. What if some of oral microbes are good for us? Science is now telling us that that is precisely the case.

A great and inexpensive resource for dealing with these knotty problems is a Kindle book on Amazon.com. It’s called “Bad Breath Cure: Eliminate Halitosis and Revive Health Using (mostly) Natural Methods.” Find it at bit.ly/BadBreathCureUS. (You don’t need to own a Kindle device to read

Kindle books. Amazon provides free software so that they can be read on any computer, and on most tablets and smartphones.)