Breathless myths and urban legends

“Hold on my breath smells, I better _______ before before we go”. 

We get it - you like to get rid of your bad breath. And you have your own remedies that work just fine! Or so you think. What if we told you might be using the wrong stuff, and your entire understanding of what causes bad breath and how to fix it could totally misguided. Interested? We’re about to burst your favorite chewing gum bubble (inspired by this brilliant article from the BBC).

Tell us if this sounds familiar: You’re about to meet up with a friend, and you think your mouth might be a little stinky. You do the old “huff and sniff” into the palm of your hand, and you decide you don’t smell half bad. So you continue on your way, convinced that you’re in the clear. WRONG! The truth is, you can’t tell what your breath really smells like by doing this, because it “doesn’t propel breath out from the back of your mouth in the same way that happens when you talk”. No wonder your friend was pulling faces and scooting away all through your chat...

What about this one: You just finished your protein-packed snack bar before your next training client gets to the gym. You already know that it’s going to repeat on you, and you don’t want anyone passing out from the smell in between reps. So you go for a stick of gum or mouthwash that you keep in your locker - it always does the trick, right?. FALSE! You totally just threw a mask over the problem. In fact, there's been some “debate concerning [mouthwash] containing alcohol and whether it does or doesn’t exacerbate dehydration. A very dry mouth can cause breath to smell worse.”

Your breath is affected by what you put in your mouth. Not just food… everything. Including the obvious offenders like coffee, cigarettes (and other smoking related items), alcohol, and of course garlic. If nothing else, we want you to be educated, and understand fact from fiction when it comes to caring from your breath. And if you really want to do something about it, we might just know of something that can help!