Unless it’s clinical, your bad breath is entirely correctable and preventable. This means there are no excuses for rancid first impressions, or even mood-killing morning breath. (Even that is avoidable!)

Fixing bad breath comes down to the right products, a proper and dedicated oral regimen, and a conscious diet (with plenty of hydration). While that may seem like a lot, it’s only going to require a few tiny alterations or additions to your existing regimen. The payoff is that nobody associates you with a foul mouth anymore, unless you curse like a sailor.

And that’s a really big achievement, especially if bad breath has been plaguing you. (Hopefully, you know if it’s been haunting you, though we suspect that some guys go blissfully through life without anyone telling them their breath smells like Old Faithful.) It’s the same as having BO: People will always remember what you smelled like, and it will impact whether or not they think of you positively or negatively. It’s not that you need to have good-smelling breath, either. That’s a lofty goal that is only possible if you’re chewing fresh pieces of gum all day. People would just prefer that you have neutral breath, which is rather easy to achieve.

A quick note: You’ll see lots of references to bacteria and sulphur in this article. Sulphur is produced by the bacteria that live in your mouth. Those bacteria are mostly good, by the way, since they break down the proteins in your food, thus enabling easier digestion. But the sulphur is their byproduct (their waste, essentially), and that’s the thing that causes bad breath. Unless you’re eating onions like apples. That’ll do it, too. The regimen below focuses on ways to minimise this sulphuric buildup.

So read on, and learn how to prevent bad breath – for good.

Use the right products
1. Toothbrush, replaced quarterly: Obviously, you need to use a toothbrush, but it’s on you to replace that thing every three months. (This is the maximum time that the American Dental Association recommends, and it’s when your toothbrush starts looking more like a toilet brush.) Luckily for you, many of the subscription-service companies offer three-month replacement heads on toothbrushes, so you can forget about calculating it yourself. Try a Goby toothbrush subscription.

2. Floss: You have to get the gunk out from between your teeth. Not only will it prevent cavities and yellowing, but it leaves fewer food particles in the mouth that can rot up your breath, particularly while you sleep. Flossing also strengthens your gums and prevents gingivitis.

3. Tongue scraper: It’s not as harsh as it sounds. A tongue scraper is a simple device that pulls additional sulphur from the “shag carpet” that is your tongue. After brushing, you can leave some of the toothpaste residue on your tongue and pull this device forward over the top to remove any excess sulphur. Try Dr. Tung’s tongue scraper.

4. Toothpaste and mouthwash: Yes, more obvious ones, but we had to mention them. You want to target the sulphur production, which can be combatted with a zinc-rich toothpaste, like SmartMouth, and a mouthwash that helps clean every part of the mouth, including between the gums, like JASON’s coconut mouth rinse. Check out our favourite toothpastes and the best mouth rinses that will give you an assist in the breath-freshening department.

5. Gum: For emergencies, of course. For ultra-strong cover-up (and germ-fighting active ingredients), try Confadent.

Brush often, floss nightly
Now that you’ve got the best devices, you need to use them at proper intervals. Don’t scrape your tongue too often – once in the morning will suffice, to remove anything that has settled overnight. You can gently brush the tongue in the evening to assist in sulphur reduction. Most importantly, though, you need to floss every night and brush 2-3 times a day (once in the morning, once before bed, and as needed or desired throughout). This not only protects your teeth and gums from rotting and stains, but it removes the food particles and the bacterial waste (the sulphur) that procure a stench. And of course, mouthwash is the nail in the coffin, as far as bad breath is concerned.

Stay hydrated
Here’s one more benefit to drinking lots of water: It prevents bad breath. That’s because a dry mouth is the perfect environment for the rotting sulphur waste to start overtaking your tongue. Gross.

This explains the phenomenon of “morning breath”: Your saliva production decreases when you sleep. Since saliva assists in breaking down your food particles, there’s less “breaking down” and more “decomposing” happening up there. It can be solved by drinking a glass of water before bed. If you’re annoyed that this will only wake you up in the middle of the night to go pee, well, then you need to re-read the benefits of staying hydrated. (You’re going to zombie walk to the bathroom and pass out as soon as you hit the pillow again anyway.) As an added bonus, once you’re awake, you can get another gulp of water to rehydrate your mouth, and you’ll almost certainly wake up the next morning without the rancid breath you’re used to.

The same logic applies throughout the day, to some extent. If you drink hydrating beverages and avoid caffeine and alcohol and even cigarettes (for more reasons than one), you’re doing your breath a favour by keeping the mouth hydrated.

Alter your diet
A few simple tweaks can significantly improve your breath. Obviously, garlic and onions are their own monster. You can brush and gargle away those sins, though. As was just mentioned, you should avoid anything that dehydrates the body (like caffeine and alcohol), since it will lead to overnight halitosis. The foods that produce more sulphur in the mouth are those high in protein, sugar, and acidity, so if you want to lessen the odds of a sulphur-lined mouth, adjust accordingly. (Though it’s probably easier to just scale back on the booze and coffee, and follow the right oral-care regimen as outlined above. You can also read up on a few other oral-hygiene tips.)

Source: Britsh GQ