You know the feeling you get when you’re face to face with an important person and you’re not confident in the freshness of your breath. You try to keep your lips closed while you talk, or you try to find an excuse to face away from that person when you speak. Often, you just find a reason to get out of the conversation as quickly as possible to avoid the embarrassment of your conversation partner discovering your terrible breath.
For some people, this is a daily concern regardless of what was for lunch. Chronic bad breath plagues people all around the world. Upon realizing (or being told about) their bad breath, it’s common for people to try treatments like mouthwash or extra tooth brushing. These methods may help temporarily, but they don’t address the underlying causes of bad breath.
Chronic bad breath can rarely have serious medical causes, but its most common causes are tooth decay and gum disease. In order to truly solve the problem of bad breath, dental work is often needed.
However, there are many home remedies for bad breath that you can try in the meantime. Most home remedies for bad breath involve changing your diet or eating foods that will neutralize the odor.
One of the most effective and well-known home remedies for bad breath is drinking herbal tea made with fenugreek, cloves, thyme, rosemary, mint, or other helpful herbs. Other home remedies for bad breath are eating plain live yogurt, raw avocado, parsley, or unripe guava. Some home remedies for bad breath include slightly less pleasant treatments, like sucking on a piece of lemon or rinsing your mouth with a solution of baking soda and warm water.
Overall, the most important home remedies for bad breath involve eating a balanced diet and making sure that your mouth is clean and your teeth and gums are healthy. Brush after each meal to remove particles of food from your mouth; decaying food can be a major bad breath trigger.