The Mental Emotional Health Blog

This is one of those small but important everyday topics. So take this entry any way you want, I guess.

Some people just have terrible breath, and it does affect people around them. It doesn’t seem easy for people to point it out to others for some reason. I suppose it’s one of my faults but whether it’s a small meeting, a therapy session, or just a conversation in a hallway, I distract myself and do my best not to cringe. I even exhale a little more forcefully than I inhale in order to clear some of their stinky breath air away from my nose. It seems some people are just oblivious to the odor seeping out of their mouth when they talk.

As for me, I try to keep gum, mints, and a toothbrush in my desk at work. Following lunch or after I drink coffee or soda, I definitely try to get rid of some of the yuck taste. I’ve heard that certain spices such as ginger actually help fight bad breath, but I haven’t tried that yet. So far, people haven’t complained to me too much about my breath. But (and this is for those of you I see regularly at work or in my personal life) please let me know if my breath stinks. I won’t be offended. I don’t like making people cringe for any reason.

Anyway, here is a nice little article on the subject: http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/bad-breath-exposed .

So if your physician tells you that you suffer from halitosis (bad breath), it is not a fatal condition. Without treatment it might kill your social life, though.