Everyone suffers from bad breath but if you feel that you always have it and can’t get rid of it, you may be suffering from Halitosis. Halitosis is a more chronic version of the average bad breathe. This can be pretty daunting for people, especially in social situations that require people to be up close and personal. What is Bad Breath caused by ?What exactly causes us to suffer from poor smelling breath? There are many things and quite often it can be more than one. Most commonly is the way our body breaks down food in our mouth. The bacteria that circulates our mouth lets off sulphur compounds which in turn results in smelly breath. If we neglect to have healthy mouth routines at home then we run the risk of this bacteria building up in our mouth creating plaque. This can be in the form of white, yellow or great coating on our teeth. All of these contribute to bad smelling breath. If we don’t have enough moisture in our mouths we can influence the way our breath smells. This can be affected by our diets and how much intake of water we have each day. Ensuring we eat a balanced diet and drink 8 glasses of water a day will assist us in keeping our mouths nice and moist. Our strong smelling foods like garlic, onions etc will change our breath temporarily. This should not create a long term smell though. Smoking and alcohol can cause people to have bad breath. Especially chronic smokers and drinkers as the smell starts to soak in. It can also be caused by a large range of health issues and medications we take. What do we look/smell for ? In order to know what our breath smells like, we need to trust the ones closest to us. Let your family or close friends smell you breath and be honest to you about how it smells. You will probably know if they are lying anyway, no one can hide a smelly breath on their face. It’s common to have a metallic taste in your mouth that is associated with smelly breath. You may also have a white or grey coat of ‘fluff’ on your tongue – this can also be associated with bad breath. How do you fix it ? Bacteria craves sugar. Try not to delve too far into the sweets world – foods high in sugar perpetuate the craving and feed bacteria. Keep your fluids up to keep your saliva production at its best. Follow each meal with a glass of water, this will also help you keep full. Give up smoking and drinking too much alcohol. This will also help with making you feel healthier ! Your dentist or dental therapist will be able to check the health of your mouth and teeth, and give you advice about dental hygiene and any treatment you might need. If you have tried everything you think you can and you still suffer from bad breath, or something just doesn’t feel right, go see you medical professional.