Hey guys, I have been a lurker on this site for over a year now. My story is like so many of yours, I have suffered from halitosis for about two years now. I have become withdrawn, severely depressed and anxious 24/7 due to this terrible problem. It all started because someone offered me a piece of gum because they said my breath smelled awful. I then searched all of the symptoms of halitosis and found that I qualified for the majority of them (white coating on back of tongue, smelly floss, mild pnd etc). I tried all of the products (Katz, smartmouth, blis etc) and conventional methods said to cure this problem but never noticed any tangible benefits. Anyway, that is some background about me but is not the reason for my post. What I am asking everyone to do is build up the courage and ask someone close to you whom you trust for an honest assessment of your breath. Approach them nonchalantly and ask them in the same manner would ask any other question. The worst thing that can happen is the person will confirm your halitosis, which we already believe to exist. The best thing that can happen is we may find our breath to not be as offensive as we may have thought. I am not implying that anyone here is a "halitophobic" and I have a big problem with this term because I think it does much more harm than good. I simply believe the reason halitosis is such a crippling problem is because there is no way of knowing exactly how, when, or to what degree we smell. At least that is what drives me the most insane. Talking to someone else about problem in real life (not a message board filled with a good deal of ignorance) may be very beneficial. So please do this and post what kind of feedback you receive. I can guarantee that at least one person will find that their breath is not nearly as big of a problem as they previously perceived it to be.Thanks guys.
Tom
P.S- If I was unclear, I am saying you have to actually breathe in the persons face, not simply ask them.
A simple homework assignment for everyone here
You know, I was hoping for the same thing: that we all actually ask someone close to us about our bb---Do they smell it, what does it smell like, how bad is it, etc, etc.
In another thread, GoodLuck! mentioned that when he put his finger in the back of the mouth, his finger smells bad. But when he asked his wife about his breath, his wife said it didn't smell. This means the odor that we smell on our fingers is not the same as the actual odor that people smell when we talk to them. The question then is, how the heck can we know how bad our breath is, and what time during the day it is bad.
Anyway, about a year ago, I actually asked one of my good friends to smell my breath. It was soooo embarrassing, but I had nothing to lose. It was just 30 minutes after I had brushed my teeth and I had my friend sit in a chair in my room. First, I talked in his direction from about 10 feet away. "I don't smell anything." Good. Next, 6 feet. "Still don't smell anything" Hmmm... Finally, 3 feet. "Nope, no smell."
I wasn't going to put my face right in front of his, so 3 feet is the closest I went. I want to do this again, but this time like 2 hours after I brush my teeth, but unfortunately this good friend of mine moved.
And yes, I've had the reactions, the comments like "brush your teeth," "your breath smells bad," and the worst one, "Ahh!"
In another thread, GoodLuck! mentioned that when he put his finger in the back of the mouth, his finger smells bad. But when he asked his wife about his breath, his wife said it didn't smell. This means the odor that we smell on our fingers is not the same as the actual odor that people smell when we talk to them. The question then is, how the heck can we know how bad our breath is, and what time during the day it is bad.
Anyway, about a year ago, I actually asked one of my good friends to smell my breath. It was soooo embarrassing, but I had nothing to lose. It was just 30 minutes after I had brushed my teeth and I had my friend sit in a chair in my room. First, I talked in his direction from about 10 feet away. "I don't smell anything." Good. Next, 6 feet. "Still don't smell anything" Hmmm... Finally, 3 feet. "Nope, no smell."
I wasn't going to put my face right in front of his, so 3 feet is the closest I went. I want to do this again, but this time like 2 hours after I brush my teeth, but unfortunately this good friend of mine moved.
And yes, I've had the reactions, the comments like "brush your teeth," "your breath smells bad," and the worst one, "Ahh!"
I am in the fortunate situation now that i`ve revelaed the whole situation for my wife. That has opened a new world for me regarding mapping the whole situation.
What i`ve seen from the iniatial response is that my problem probarly is like 5% of what i thought it was. The interesting part here is that i seem to have "grown out of it" as i know for certain it was pretty bad up to only some few years ago.
Well, to the testing part. I have started a project with my wife where i will ask her several times a day to smell my breath and scale it from 0-10 where 10 is horrible and 0 is absolutely no smell.
Today i asked her about 10 times and i got;
0 : 7 times
1 : 1 time
1.5: 30 minutes after the 1. At that time i estimated it to be a 2 myself.
4: 1 time upon bursting out unctrolled in a deep breath
Today was a good day in my allergy though were nasal irrigation and nasonex really did the job for the mucuos production and post nasal drips. The seven zeros came from morning to dinner.
Unfortunately i at a bag og chips(potato snacks) with a strong barcebecue flavoured spice. That seemed to kick everything off. Later i ate a pretty junk dinner, followed by a very sugarbig dessert, leading to what i could feel was a layer in my tounge. Within this meales i drank little water, but some milk.
Hence, no suprised that there was a smell. I guess it could happen to a completely "normal" guy as well.
Can`t wait to map this properly now that im fortunate to be in a situation where i actually can track this in such detail.
Will keep you all informed. I hope more people can find the courage to tell somebody and go through the same project as me so we can share results.
What i`ve seen from the iniatial response is that my problem probarly is like 5% of what i thought it was. The interesting part here is that i seem to have "grown out of it" as i know for certain it was pretty bad up to only some few years ago.
Well, to the testing part. I have started a project with my wife where i will ask her several times a day to smell my breath and scale it from 0-10 where 10 is horrible and 0 is absolutely no smell.
Today i asked her about 10 times and i got;
0 : 7 times
1 : 1 time
1.5: 30 minutes after the 1. At that time i estimated it to be a 2 myself.
4: 1 time upon bursting out unctrolled in a deep breath
Today was a good day in my allergy though were nasal irrigation and nasonex really did the job for the mucuos production and post nasal drips. The seven zeros came from morning to dinner.
Unfortunately i at a bag og chips(potato snacks) with a strong barcebecue flavoured spice. That seemed to kick everything off. Later i ate a pretty junk dinner, followed by a very sugarbig dessert, leading to what i could feel was a layer in my tounge. Within this meales i drank little water, but some milk.
Hence, no suprised that there was a smell. I guess it could happen to a completely "normal" guy as well.
Can`t wait to map this properly now that im fortunate to be in a situation where i actually can track this in such detail.
Will keep you all informed. I hope more people can find the courage to tell somebody and go through the same project as me so we can share results.
By the way. The best parts of my day seemed to be coming within 2-3 hours after my daily dose of "Noni Juice".
I cant believe im actually doing it but i will recommend the stuff as it really seems to help me. I`m super negative to natural medicines and that kind of stuff for some reason and it took like 3 years of my mothers persistent encouregment to try the stuff but it really seems to help me. Watch out though. The people behind this stuff his hypercapitalistic and the whole marketing smells like shit. They will try to offer you "cheap programs" and tell you how their technique is so special and that it keeps all the vitamins in the juice etc. Don`t belivee it at all. The bottles should be very cheap and absolutely not $50 for 1 liter etc.
I cant believe im actually doing it but i will recommend the stuff as it really seems to help me. I`m super negative to natural medicines and that kind of stuff for some reason and it took like 3 years of my mothers persistent encouregment to try the stuff but it really seems to help me. Watch out though. The people behind this stuff his hypercapitalistic and the whole marketing smells like shit. They will try to offer you "cheap programs" and tell you how their technique is so special and that it keeps all the vitamins in the juice etc. Don`t belivee it at all. The bottles should be very cheap and absolutely not $50 for 1 liter etc.