Ways of tackling bad breath

One of the side effects of getting older are the physical changes that happen to our body. Things like wrinkles and grey hair have been discussed at length, but what about the less pretty things? Like bad breath, for example. 

Bad breath is not a unique problem, nor it is something that is reserved only for older folks, I realise that. It is, however, something I noticed to be more prevalent these days, at least for me. I wonder if this is one of these ‘wonderful’ facts of getting older or just a matter of poor hygiene. I am hoping it is not the latter.  I suppose as we are getting older, the recovery of our bodies internally and externally slows down. I would imagine that my gums are not in the same overall state as they were 20 years ago. After all, they have been working hard for all this time. Maybe inside of the mouth, just as much as on the outside of it, things are getting a little more “loose”, and bacteria, food and other things may hide in the spaces created, causing inflammation, ulcers or bad breath. Hence my suspicion that it is connected to the age. I can confidently say I know more people age 40 and over with bad breath than those in teens or twenties.

Typical hygiene

I brush my teeth twice a day with an electric toothbrush. I do this for 2min 30 sec each time. Not because I believe it to be the best time or most effective, but because I like the big smiley face my toothbrush monitor displays when I go above the recommended 2 min. And I get five stars! That is a good beginning of any day!  I also occasionally floss, I have to admit, I don’t do it as often as I probably should. For sure, it is not daily. But I do it. I clean my tongue as well, mostly when I know I had a particularly pungent meal, a weird mixture of flavours or I just feel like I should. Again nothing regular, but now and then the tongue scrape is performed. I use mouth wash – manly in the morning as I don’t like the taste of it in my mouth after the night sleep. If I use mouthwash before I go to bed, I wake up with a weird bitter sensation that I don’t find it pleasant at all. In my opinion, all the mouthwash products are very sweet; surely, sugar is not good for your teeth. Isn’t that what we were told since we were little?  So there you go, I would imagine (hope) fairly standard routine and mouth care. Nothing extraordinary but no real neglect either… I think.  In the past, this was not a problem. I never even thought to check if my breath was fresh. But nowadays, as I am getting older, there is a whole array of smells and things that happens which are new and not entirely positive in my mind. Bad breath is one of them. 

My breath

When it comes to me, two elements led me to believe I have a problem. Both are rather obvious and come with two levels of realisation. The bad thing is that we cannot (in most cases) smell our own breath. That can be both blessing and a curse. I am sure you experienced at least once in your life a meeting with someone whose breath was making you nauseous. I am also sure you thought how can they not know, how is it they don’t do anything about it, or I hope I am never going to be like this person. Well, the thing is that person probably didn’t realise.  But let’s get back to my two realisation moments.  The first is really straight forward, my husband told me on a few occasions that my breath is bad. He just simply pointed it out to me. Here it is a realisation one; it is bad enough for him to make a comment.   The second one is more personal, and it only became apparent due to the reality of COVID. Namely, the face mask. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, if you wear a face mask, as we are obliged to do nowadays, then you can definitely smell your own breath in its full “flavour” and “colour.” I have to admit the second realisation is much more powerful. It’s so obvious I can not pretend, ignore or dismiss it. And some days, it is terrible!

Various ways of fighting bad breath

Ok, facts are clear, what now? How can I solve this issue? Is this related to my sporadic flossing, or is it a sign of an illness? Yes, I didn’t consider that yet, but sometimes the bad smell can come from a deeper part of the body and indicated health issues.  So here I go search the almighty Google for remedies and cures of bad breath. And the options are varied: 

• regular brushing
• regular flossing
• mouthwash routine
• avoiding certain foods, e.g. garlic, onion 
• healing your gums and mouth ulcers (if you have any)
• no smoking (I don’t smoke)
• avoid alcohol (I don’t avoid 😁)
• drink plenty of water, and if nothing works, visit your dentist. 

Kind of a problem with the last one since dentists will not see anyone besides people with pain and dental emergencies – COVID strikes again. But I digress. 

There are also more natural solutions I found. 

• Apparently, chewing parsley helps a lot. I have to admit it is rather powerful but challenging to use in an office setting. 
• Another one of these is to eat green peppers regularly. And again it works, as it refreshes your breath, it is easier to administer with little pieces of cut pepper in a snack box. 
• One more and super obvious is mint. Now I would not recommend chewing on fresh mint. It’s not all that pleasant. It works, but it is not pleasant.
• Vinegar wash is something that is mentioned as a remedy. Apparently, bacteria don’t enjoy an acidic environment, who would? I am not convinced about this one. As vinegar has its own distinctive smell, I am not sure of changing bad breath onto vinegar breath is such a great trade-off.
• Then we have chewing gums, mints and chewable Listerine (a new thing I found in high street pharmacies). 

All of which works for a short while by masking the problem rather than solving it. 

Even more so, the Japanese bathrooms everywhere (and I mean everywhere – airports, offices, restaurants, etc.) are equipped with small disposable toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes so even if you forget to take your own, you still keep clean. If they have a snack, they will use chewable mouth fresheners or rinse their mouth with a mouthwash. It works, I have to admit for all the years I worked with many Japanese colleagues, men and women, I have never smelled a bad breath from young or old.  On the other hand, I know immaculate Spanish people whose breath could melt paint on the wall. I know they were hygienic and cared for themselves no less than I do myself, so I wonder if this is all about the diet. Saying that both Japanese and Spanish eat lots of seafood, so where is the logic? Maybe spices? Ok, I know that Spanish, or for that matter, any other European nations are not as focused on mouth hygiene as our Japanese counterparts. So we are back to hygiene.

My decision

After reviewing all of my findings, I made a decision. Since I am generally healthy, I doubt my bad breath has anything to do with a hidden illness or condition. It must be something to do with the foods I consume and the way I care for my mouth. So I will start with a step by step approach and see what brings some results.  I will start by brushing my teeth after each meal. If the Japanese can take a toothbrush to the office – so can I. It is made even simpler with the fact that I work from home now. The toothbrush is waiting for me in the bathroom. I will also try to floss more often. I am not going to go crazy promising that I will do it every day. I don’t enjoy it, so I doubt I would keep such a promise. One needs to know her limitations, right? If that doesn’t work, I will move on to looking at my diet and then maybe at some more targeted treatments. I will see how I go.  If you have any suggestions, advise or your own experience to share, please let me know, especially if you managed to solve the problem!