I'm a 32 year old male. Good looking, Very Fit, Intelligent, articulate but i have the Dreaded BB.
I've had bad breath since i was 13, just entering puberty. I definately didn't have it before then. It co-incided with me getting braces fitted on both my lower and upper teeth and possibly because i took up smoking aged 13.
I often had a really bad taste in my mouth and i went to great lengths to mask the taste, i.e always carrying a packet of polo mints in my pocket and keeping one in my mouth broken up into 2 pieces and lodged against either side of my upper mouth until both pieces of polo mint dissolved. I would then slip another polo mint into my mouth without any of my friends noticing.
I got my braces off after nearly 2 years and gave up smoking mainly because i believed that the combination of braces trapping food and smoking was the cause of my Bad Breath so all in all i was still quite positive that i would be able to get the problem under control. How wrong i was.
Giving up smoking gave me a better sense of taste and smell and the taste in my mouth got worse or at least my sense of smell improving made the taste in my mouth seem even more pungent. I started eating the Polo mints again. I used to buy a packet from 4 or 5 different shops in my area because i didn't want any of the shopkeepers thinking, "hey, this guy just buys packet after packet of Polo mints, he must have bad breath". I was actually really paranoid so i never bought 2 packets of mints in the same shop for a couple of days.
All through my teenage years people would pass comments about my breath and i eventally lost confidence and my self esteem hit rock bottom. I only kissed girls when i was really drunk and while my friends were in relationships and enjoying female company i was to afraid to get close to a girl in terms of anything happening further than a one night stand. I started doing drugs and eventually hit rock bottom and was a junkie and all because i had a problem (bad breath) that i couldn't control. I felt less of a man than my peers and disrespected myself for 5 years.
Luckily, my family helped my out of the hole i was in and i owe them my life. I'm lucky to be alive but i think i'm better at coping today although my BB still holds me back. Thankfully, its not as bad as it used to be and heres what i've done to improve my breath.
I brush with retardex toothpaste in the morning, after dinner and at night and use a tongue scraper every morning as well.
I rinse with Retardex Mouthwash every morning.
I eat one plain live yogurt per day. The good bacteria in plain yogust helps to neutralize the bad bacteria that exacerbates bad breath and it helps to give you a healthy gut as well .
.I also drink a hot lemon and honey drink once a day. It has done wonders for my breath. I squeeze half a lemon into a cup with boiling hot water and a heaped teaspoon of honey. Both lemon and honey have antibacterial properties which help to keep the immune system healthy and help to cleanse toxins from your body.
I also eat a healthy diet, no sugery drinks or snacks (not easy, i know) but i would say my bad breath has been reduced by 70% because of my daily regime and believe me, i had absolutely disgusting breath 24/7 for 14 years before i took some serious action although my orall hygiene was always fairly good through my teens. I also stopped smoking 5 years ago. Thats is an absolute no brainer for anybody with a bad breath problem.
I am still uptight about my breath and all the years of negative thinking and paranoia won't dissapear overnight but its definately getting easier to be closer to people but i still have to make a concious effort to stand close to people and talk freely, it still doesn't come naturally.
Well, i hope you enjoyed reading my story and i hope my daily regime can help some fellow sufferers to reduce and maybe totally eliminate their Bad Breath.
