Symptoms of Bad Breath
It is impossible to smell your own breath. Therefore breathing into your
hand and smelling that as you often see done, is of no diagnostic value
at all. The most reliable symptoms of bad breath are:
1. Bad Taste or Sour, Biter Metallic Taste in the Mouth
A bad or sour taste in the mouth means that you are tasting sulphur
compounds, and potentially are a bad breath candidate should you
suddenly get a dry mouth, say from drinking alcohol. So if you are on a
date and want to impress, the alcohol could be very damaging to your
prospects. Not all bad tastes mean bad breath. If you have gum disease
or do not floss your teeth regularly, you may be tasting sulphur
compounds from around the teeth. These areas are not large enough to
cause bad breath, they just cause bad taste. A metallic taste is
something completely different. This means that you have a case of dry
mouth. And again as you know already dry mouth is a cause of bad breath.
So you need this treated immediately.
2. A White or Colored Coating on the Tongue.
Coating on the tongue can be many colors, but the most usual are either
white or yellow depending on the sulphur content. This coating is
generally a mixture of sulphur compounds mixed with mucous and sometimes
food particles or coffee or tea. It is this coating that people smell
when you exhale whilst talking. Also it is this coating that generally
gives you a bad taste in the mouth. You also need to check the position
of the coating. If the front of the tongue is pink but the back is
coated, then this means you have a mucous problem and need to use
products such as Oral Gels, Throat spray and Buffered Isotonic Saline
Nasal Irrigation to control the problem.
If the coating is on the front part of the tongue, then this means you
can clean the tongue purely with rinses and toothpastes. Another way to
check your tongue is to rub a clean handkerchief over the tongue
surface. Have a look at what the handkerchief removes. Is there a
discoloring of the handkerchief. Also check the handkerchief for smells.
3. Smelling bad breath on breathing through the nose.
You may notice a smell when breathing or eating from the back of the
mouth. This smell may get worse when you keep your mouth closed and
breath through your nose. This is an indication of sulphur compounds in
the nasal passages and throat area. Most people that have this symptom
will also have a coated back part of the tongue as described above. It
is interesting that you can smell bad breath from this secondary area,
but not directly form your mouth. This is what I mean about the smells
pooling in secondary areas.
4. Lick the back of your hand.
Allow the licked area to dry for 10 seconds, and then smell that area.
This way you are smelling the crystals deposited on the back of the
hand. If it has an odor, then you have bad breath.
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