In the electronic city of Akihabara in Japan, you will come across something called an etiquette checker in several shops. An etiquette checker tells you if you have bad breath, thus helping you know if you are bothering others around you. The pack typically has the following line: Let’s become a sociable person (sic).

All of us know how bad breath can spoil our dates, meetings, social interactions in general. We may be annoying others even without knowing it. Are there simple steps that we can take to ensure that our mouths never stink? Yes, there are. Bad breath does not necessarily mean that there is a dental problem. One just needs to follow a few basic steps as a routine to do away with the odor.

The simplest factors causing bad breath are:

• Consumption of tobacco and alcohol
• Deposits on the tongue
• Food particle inside the mouth

Here are quick and easy steps to follow to avoid bad breath:

• Brush your teeth after every meal. Yes, you have heard this a million times before, but that only reiterates how important a step this is. Hidden food articles in the mouth decay producing micro-organisms, which in turn release bad odor. Now, you wouldn’t want small living beings squirming through your tongue, would you?
• Floss, floss, floss. Floss regularly to get rid of the food particles stuck between your teeth.
• Rinse your mouth thoroughly with a good mouthwash a couple of times during the days when you feel you have bad breath.
• Cleanse your tongue. More often than not, we pay so much attention to our teeth that we forget our tongues. Cleanse your tongue regularly if you want to avoid bad breath. In fact, if you have not been cleansing your tongue, you may well be losing your taste buds. You do not want to do that. You would like to tell the difference between smoked salmon and boiled tuna using your tongue.

We will talk about more interesting tips in the posts that follow. Till then, happy smiling!

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