How To Prevent Bad Breath AKA Halitosis

Hello. I’m Dr. Grey Kantor here in San Rafael, California, with Kantor Dental Group. Today, I want to talk about bad breath, otherwise known as halitosis. How do you keep yourself from getting bad breath? Well, the best way is brushing and flossing. That takes away the bacteria in your mouth, which is the biggest contributor to bad breath.

Another is brushing your tongue. If you look at your tongue in the mirror, you stick your tongue out, I’m not going to do it here, but if you stick your tongue out, and you see a yellow, orange, black, green hue to your tongue, what that can be is bacteria colonies growing in between your taste buds, and if unchecked can cause bad breath. Brushing your tongue daily is really helpful. If it’s a more severe case where it’s not coming off, a tongue scraper might be really helpful. You can get tongue scrapers at a CVS or in any pharmacy, Walgreens. It can just be scraped off. I wouldn’t scrape your tongues daily. Scraping’s a little harsher. You maybe do that once a week.

Another way to help your bad breath is to use a mouthwash. Certain mouthwashes are better for actual breath than others. For example, this mouthwash right here, PreviDent, isn’t so much for your breath that is as it is for preventing tooth decay. But the good ones, Listerine is good for your gums as well as it really helps your breath smell better. Some organic ones, this is a good one, Essential Oxygen. We like this one because it uses very natural ingredients and doesn’t have fluoride in it for people who don’t like fluoride.

If you have bad breath, the best ways to kind of… Or you think you have bad breath, is to come in to the dentist. He can help see the bacteria on your tongue. This thing, that doesn’t work. You can’t smell a thing. Just come in to your dentist, and we can recommend a mouthwash, we can talk about scraping your tongue, and make sure you’re getting all the bacteria out from in between your teeth. Again, I’m Dr. Grey Kantor here at Kantor Dental Group in San Rafael, California. Please subscribe.