Banish smelly breath
Socialise with confidence courtesy of Abbey Road Dental in St John’s Wood.
The party season is here, which means lots of chatting, laughing and maybe even the odd smooch – lots of reasons to have fresh breath. One of the worst things that can happen when you’re happily drinking and chatting at a party, is for someone to offer you a mint, pull a face as your breath hits them, or worse, comment on your breath. Quite embarrassing.
So, how do you avoid bad breath at Christmas?
One of the best ways to avoid an awkward bad breath situation is to try and prevent getting bad breath in the first place. Try these tips to keep your breath fresh this Christmas:
- Follow an excellent oral hygiene routine brushing your teeth for at least two minutes twice a day, with a fluoride toothpaste and the right toothbrush for your needs. Not sure about how to improve your oral hygiene regime? Here at Abbey Road Dental our dental hygienist can help you with that. Our hygienist can advise on your personal oral care and give you a thorough dental clean to remove any hard plaque from your teeth.
- Floss the teeth to remove debris which has collected between the teeth. Once that debris rots, it smells, causing bad breath
- Brush your tongue to remove debris that has collected over the day. You don’t have to use a scraper, a toothbrush will do.
- Drink lots of water as water is the ‘lifeblood’ of the body and keeps everything functioning, including your saliva production which prevents dry mouth – a common cause of bad breath. Even better, try sipping on breath freshening drinks containing mint, like crushed mint leaves in soda water.
- Chew sugar free chewing gum to stimulate saliva production, another great way to avoid dry mouth.
- Keep away from the smelly buffet foods! Pastries and dips with garlic and onion in will make your breath smell. With certain strong smelling food like cheese crisps, fishy sandwiches and boiled eggs, the smell won’t last long and can be fixed with a breath mint. However, garlic and onion continue to create gases and put out a strong smell from the stomach into the mouth, so you could be putting out those whiffs for the rest of the day. Also be aware that the smell of garlic can actually secrete through our pores, so you might manage to get on top of your breath but it will be coming through your skin. Like we said, possibly best avoided at parties!
- Cut the coffee – drinking too much makes your mouth smell sour.
- Visit Abbey Road Dental regularly to ensure your overall dental health is good. Gum disease, cavities and infections can all cause bad breath. The sooner the cause is diagnosed, the sooner it can be treated.
- Avoid smoking – it automatically makes your breath smell of stale smoke.
If you follow all of these tips and still find you struggle with bad breath, it is important to pay a visit to your GP as bad breath can signal other underlying medical conditions.
Hopefully, with these tips, you will have a fresh and beautiful smile in time for Christmas. Are you looking to do something about the appearance of your smile ready for Christmas or perhaps the New Year? Our NW8 clinic in St John’s Wood can help with that too! Please call us on 02076241603 to discuss our cosmetic dentistry options. We’re excited to help you get an A list smile ready for 2017!