Bad breath, otherwise known as halitosis, usually comes from one of two sources – the food we eat or the breakdown of food particles by the bacteria that is in our mouth.
According to http://www.boursecenter.com, most people think they can tell if they have bad breath by using the following methods.
1. Cupping their hands to their nose to smell their exhaled breath.
2. Licking their wrists and then sniffing the wrist to see if there is a bad smell.
3. Blowing their breath in someone’s face and asking them if it smells bad.
4. Using a spoon to scrape the white stuff off of the very back portion of their tongue.
Methods 1 and 2 above are typically not a good indicator because our bodies get used to our own odors over time, making it hard to tell whether or not our breath smells bad. Plus, a lot of the foul smell in our breath starts at the back of our mouth and is blown outward only when we talk.
Method 3 is a good way to test the smell of your breath, but can be unpleasant to the unlucky recipient who you’re exhaling on.
Method 4 is a fairly reliable way to test the smell of your breath, but if you have a gag reflex it might be hard to get far enough back on your tongue to get a good sampling. But if you are able to do it, then take a sniff of the white stuff that is on the spoon. However it smells, good or bad, is usually a good indication of how your breath smells to other people.
According to Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halitosis), an alternative to detecting bad breath is to go to a dentist and have your breath measured on an instrument called a halimeter. The dentist will have you blow into a straw like tube connected to the halimeter and then the machine will show the levels of sulfur compounds in your breath. The more sulfur compounds that are measured on the machine, the worse your breath will smell.
Also, for the gadget guys and girls, there are several high tech gadgets on the market now that will tell if you have bad breath.
1. Japan’s largest cell phone carrier NTT DoCoMo is releasing a new cell phone called the “Fitness Phone”. The phone is equipped with various devices to monitor several things about your health, including the smell of your breath as you exhale into the phone. Findout more about the FItness Phone at http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,138011-c,cellphones/article.html
2. Then there is the “Kiss Me Meter” developed by SEJU Engineering. It uses an MEMS gas sensor, and has a re-calibration function, and will detect 5 levels of mouth odor and then shows those levels in different colors on the LED display. It sells for $39.95. Find out more about this gadget at http://www.gearlog.com/2006/07/dont_be_a_kissing_fool_detect.php
So let’s go people, check that breathe for foul odors! If you determine that your breath is so bad you could melt concrete, there are a lot of ways to correct it. I’ll write an article on that next if someone on here hasn’t already beat me to the punch.
Find out more about detecting bad breath at http://www.animated-teeth.com/bad_breath/t1_halitosis.htm
