Do I have bad breath?

This means it is quite possible for a person to have bad breath, yet not be aware of it. If our noses can't reliably help us judge the quality of our own breath, how can we determine if we do have bad breath? One solution is to ask the opinion of a spouse or significant other. In lieu of the availability of these individuals you might ask a friend or else your dentist or hygienist at your next dental appointment. If you find this type of question too personal to ask an adult don't overlook asking a child. As we all know, sometimes the least inhibited and most honest responses come from children. There are ways to accurately smell your own breath. However you have to take a slightly indirect route.

Try this technique. Lick your wrist, wait about five seconds while the saliva dries somewhat, and then smell it. What do you think? That's the way you smell. Or, more precisely, that's the way the end of your tongue smells (your tongue's "anterior" portion). How was it? Did you pass this first check? Now try this experiment. It will check the odor associated with the back of your tongue (your tongue's "posterior" aspect).  Take a spoon, turn it upside down, and use it to scrape the very back portion of your tongue. (Don't be surprised if you find you have an active gag reflex.) Take a look at the material that has been scrapped off, usually it's a thick whitish material. Now, take a whiff of it. Not so bad? Pretty nasty? This smell, as opposed to the sampling from the anterior portion of your tongue, is probably the way your breath smells to others. So now you know, the fundamental cause of bad breath for most people is the whitish coating that covers the surface of the posterior portion of their tongue. More accurately, bad breath is caused by the bacteria that live in this coating. (The second most common fundamental cause of bad breath is bacteria that live and accumulate elsewhere in a person's mouth.)