How Can I Tell If My Breath Stinks?

If someone hands you a piece of gum or a mint while plugging their nose, well, that's a sure sign that your breath stinks. But what about more subtle hints, like ways you can tell on your own? What if you're on your way to a job interview and you have no way of telling if your breath is fresh or not- how can I tell if my breath stinks when I really need to?

Well, try this- cup your hands around your mouth and nose (as if you are going to warm up your hands with your breath), and breathe out your mouth, in with your nose. If you can smell anything at all other than toothpaste, then your breath likely has an odor to it. Whether it stinks enough to be noticed by someone else is unclear- try breathing out again into your hands with your mouth, in through your nose. If you can detect a certain smell, whether it be garlic, sourness from coffee, cigarettes, or a poop smell (tooth decay) then someone else can likely smell it as well.

If you are unsure how bad your breath stinks, try this little trick I used to do at work all the time- lick your inner wrist, wait 5 seconds for your saliva to dry, then smell your wrist. What you smell is pretty close to what your breath smells like to other people. If you think it stinks, then your breath likely does. How far away you can smell your wrist is how close people have to be to be able to smell it as well. So if you have to stick your nose in your wrist to smell anything, then you're OK, even if it is a nasty smell.

Still unsure if your breath stinks or not? Well, if you can't tell by now then your breath likely doesn't, or it doesn't have an odor that people would find offensive. If you can't tell if your breath stinks, then try this- suck on your back tooth, and if you get a flavor that is anything other than toothpaste or what you just ate, then your breath likely stinks. A bitter taste when you suck on your back tooth or a salty flavor when you run your tongue along your teeth means usually some plaque that is leaving your breath smelly. Brush (and floss) those teeth ASAP and get to your dentist to get those teeth cleaned!

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how I check for bad breath