Bad Breath Halitosis Forum

Quick question - can you guys smell your own breath? I will touch my tonsils or back of my throat and wait a few minutes and I can't smell a thing! I really really can't smell myself. I wish this meant I didn't smell but I can assure you that I do

I have a 2 year old little boy and often times people will asked if he farted or pooped in his diaper.....and of course he never did. Its just my breath. A few weeks ago right after we finished eating (I thought this was my "safe" time away from bad breath but I was VERY wrong) my sister was sitting in the car next to me and asked "what is that poopy smell? Is it your son?" Well I was sitting next to her, my son was in the back seat & no he didn't have poop. And later that same day in the store (WHILE I WAS CHEWING GUM!) she asked the same question. And I have no BB smellers-not brave enough to discuss it.

Sounds like type 3 halitosis. Your bad breath probably originates from the digestive tract. I suggest you see a gastroentorologist asap.

I'd first take a good look around at things u might not have realised. First of all, if it is your breath, you can have situations which give off their own odours (like a rotten tooth/filling etc, or something wrong in your nose) which generally wont cause anywhere else to smell bad, except the source of the problem.

Also, the smell isnt necessarily coming from your breath. It could be body odour, it could even be something as simple as your laundry system - even pets. Fecal smell is not exclusive to BB.

Does it only seem to happen in the car? It might be the car. The catalytic converter on a car can sometimes give off a strong sulphurous smell, and u might have become accustomed to it, but others will notice it.

My method of checking my breath is via these plastic pens that I chew on. It seems to absorb breath smells quite well. I clean the pens with water regularly and rotate.

The upside is you can actually do this with people around and it doesn't look too weird. I wait until I am alone to check the results though.

Not very reliable, since everyone (including BB free people) produce a certain level of VSCs, even though this can remain below the threshold of perceptibility in terms of actually causing a bad breath.

I can confirm, not just through myself, but through others too, that it is a fact that a person can have saliva which smells, yet NOT have bad breath.

Unless you have a way of quantifying this odour, such as knowing when you definitely do have BB compared to when you dont and having this measure against the severity of this odour in your testing method, then it isnt telling you anything apart from the fact your saliva has a certain odour to it, which is natural for everyone.

Also, these plastic pens will become breeding grounds for bacteria once you have contaminated them with your saliva and oral bacteria - this will be the case for everyone.

Just the other day before getting a haircut, I could smell my breath for a second after I sat down and started talking. It usually happens when it mixes with unfamiliar air, so it temporarily gets by my smell "censor".

my smell i so irratic, i often cant smell. i just had a date last night with a guy iv been seeing for a few months. he was unusally cold. then as we were getting down to stuff, he said 'right im getting ready ffor bed, do you wann brush your teeth?' it just crushed me. im so low. i thought i had it controlled. but not at all. i have no idea what is causing this and not always being able to smell it gives me such false hope to them be brought crashing down. this guy is such an arrogant twat as well. but he's desparate, im desparate, so i just give in and humiliate myself, waiting till he has had enough. i could sense the resentment from him yesterday. this is such a horrible disease, i am really finding it hard to cope with not knowing the cause. sorry to rant. apple cyder vinegar apparently does nothing for me, after 2 weeks of thinking it was working

I've never been able to smell myself...I just gauge my odour on other peoples reactions which is quite frankly exhausting...every touch of the nose..re-adjusting of posture..offer of chewing gum..odd look ...I assume is because I stink...I'm sure this makes me look a little shifty and suspicious which doesn't help the reactions I get. I just wonder how bad the smell is...

To check your breath odor, lick the inside of your wrist. Not with the tip of your tounge, but farther back. Wait about 15-20 seconds and then smell the area once it is dry. That smell will usually last until you wash it off.

Phantasist wrote:To check your breath odor, lick the inside of your wrist. Not with the tip of your tounge, but farther back. Wait about 15-20 seconds and then smell the area once it is dry. That smell will usually last until you wash it off.

That only works for some kinds of bb. Doesn't work for me, since mine is coming from the tonsils, not the tongue.

I cant, and its so frustrating. I have no one to help me either. My partner swears I do not have BB. I kind of believe her as I think she has been around me for so long that she is used to it and cannot smell it either.
I usually work at a different site every week or 2. I thought I was having a good week this week cos the main contact never put his hand up to his nose. I helped by not staying close to him for too long. Today however, we had to have a long chat after that I went away into my meeting room. Then I remembered I had forgotten to ask him something, so I went back to his office and his window was open!!
Call me paranoid, but there is only one reason why you would open your window in winter!!!!

I can smell something but I would REALLY LIKE to be able to smell myself the way others do....Haligone, I completely understand you about being paranoid, I `m being paranoid all the time - every little thing others do makes me think they react to my bb

it i lick my wrist, it doesn't smell but if i shove my finger down the back of my throat to this mini tongue thing and let it dry it smells, dose anyone have this?

Also, I was working with another lady this week. I thought she did not have BB AT ALL, not a hint!! However there was a time when I asked her to explain something to me. I was sat down looking over the paper, and she was standing at my side. So she bent down over me and started explaining things to me. Then I smelt some BB from her.
So when she was bent directly over me, I could smell BB, but when we sat normally to talk, she did not have BB. And even after that episode, anytime she spoke to me I could not smell anything.
So she clearly has some VSCs, but they do not project when she speaks..... why is it that when I speak it projects everywhere?!!!!

iva wrote:I can smell something but I would REALLY LIKE to be able to smell myself the way others do....Haligone, I completely understand you about being paranoid, I `m being paranoid all the time - every little thing others do makes me think they react to my bb

Yep. Everything anyone does makes me think they are reacting to me. Sometimes it is a reaction, but sometimes it is not. For example, yesterday I was sitting in a room alone and I was thinking about something and rested my chin in my hand. My fingers went under my nose without me even realizing it!! So that means some people just do that when they are thinking, but if I was with someone and they did that, I would think they were reacting to me!!!!