How to Accurately Smell Your Own Breath for Freshness

Techniques for Smelling Your Own Breath

Having bad breath can be an embarrassing problem that prevents you from getting close to others. But before you can fix it, you need to be able to detect your own breath odor. This can be tricky since you quickly become desensitized to smells, even unpleasant ones, when they are coming from your own mouth. Thankfully, there are methods you can use to get an accurate assessment of your breath freshness.

Cupping Your Hands

A simple way to check your breath is to cup your hands over your mouth and nose and breathe out forcefully into them. The breath particles become concentrated in your hands, allowing you to get a whiff of any odors.

When cupping your hands, make sure to seal them tightly over your mouth so no air can escape. Breathe out strongly through both your mouth and nose to get breath from both areas into your hands. Then take a few quick sniffs of the air in your hands to detect any bad smells before they dissipate.

Licking Your Wrist

Our sense of smell is stronger when odors are wet. Licking your wrist and smelling it as the saliva evaporates can give you a taste-enhanced scent profile of your mouth. The wrist also carries the breath away from your desensitized nose.

To use this technique, lick the inside of your wrist with a broad tongue stroke, wetting about two inches of skin. Hold the wet part of your wrist beneath your nose and sniff a few times as it dries. The evaporating moisture carries volatile compounds from your mouth to your nose’s smell receptors.

Scraping Your Tongue

Much of the cause of bad breath resides on the surface of your tongue. Using a clean tongue scraper after brushing can dislodge sulfur compounds and other odor sources and give you a close encounter with your mouth odor.

Gently scrape the entire surface of your tongue from back to front several times. Be careful not to scrape too hard or you may damage the delicate tissue. Bring the scraper close to your nose and sniff it to detect any bad smells that were present on your tongue.

Flossing Between Your Back Teeth

Particles of food get trapped between your back teeth where your toothbrush can’t reach. As they decay, these food particles release volatile sulfur compounds that cause bad breath. Flossing them out can thus provide a good gauge of your breath freshness.

After brushing and scraping your tongue, floss carefully between your molars and back teeth. Then smell the floss—any unpleasant odors likely came from your mouth. Target these areas diligently in your oral hygiene routine to combat bad breath.

Cleaning Out Your Nose

Your nasal passages connect to the back of your throat, meaning post-nasal drip can contribute to mouth odors. Clearing out mucus, allergens, and other debris from your nasal cavity improves your smelling accuracy when checking breath.

Before smelling your breath, blow your nose thoroughly into a tissue. You can also use a neti pot or nasal saline rinse to irrigate your nasal passages. With clear nasal passages, you can smell test your breath without interference from nasal odors.

Asking Someone You Trust

Since your own sense of smell adjusts to your personal breath odors, the most accurate way to assess is to ask someone else. Find a trusted friend, family member or colleague and explain that you are checking your breath and would appreciate their honest opinion.

Ask them to stand about six inches from your mouth as you exhale and let them know if they detect any unpleasant smells. Make sure not to breathe directly into their face. Having a reliable external nose can help confirm or deny any suspicions about bad breath.

When to Smell Test Your Breath

Checking your breath at strategic times throughout your daily routine can give you useful information to fight bad breath:

• Morning: Breath is often worst upon waking after a night of reduced saliva flow. Smell test first thing.
• Post-brushing/flossing: Check breath after your oral hygiene routine for any remaining odors.
• Mid-day: We become noseblind as the day goes on. A midday sniff check can reveal if you need to rebrush.
• Pre-conversation: Quick breath check before social interactions to avoid offending others.
• After meals: Certain foods like garlic can produce bad breath. Check after eating and rebrush if needed.

Interpreting the Smell Test Results

Carefully evaluating the odors present when you smell test your breath can provide useful insights into potential causes and appropriate treatments. Here is what to look out for:

• Rotten egg smell - Indicates presence of sulfur compounds produced by bacteria. Improved oral hygiene and mouthwash use is indicated.
• Fecal/sewage odor - Suggests an overgrowth of undesirable bacteria in the mouth and throat or periodontal disease. See your dentist.
• Fishy/ammonia smell - Often a sign of kidney disease or dehydration. Consult your physician if this occurs.
• Fruity/acetone breath - May signal diabetes with high ketones. Have your blood sugar checked.
• Garlic/onion aroma - Caused by food breakdown. Brush teeth and tongue after eating culprit foods.

If you don't detect any unpleasant odors, then congratulations - your breath is fresh! But we become desensitized over time, so keep smell testing regularly throughout each day.

Tips for Fresher Breath

Once you identify bad breath through smell testing, you can take action to improve your oral hygiene and breath freshness:

• Brush teeth and tongue twice daily and floss once daily.
• Use antibacterial mouthwash to kill odor-causing bacteria.
• Clean dentures, retainers, mouthguards, and braces daily.
• Scrape your tongue with a tongue scraper twice a day.
• Chew xylitol gum to stimulate saliva flow.
• Drink plenty of water to prevent dry mouth.
• Cut back on pungent foods like garlic, onion, curry.
• Avoid smoking and tobacco products which cause bad breath.
• See your dentist regularly to treat gum disease and cavities.

With diligence about your oral hygiene regimen and regular smell tests throughout the day, you can identify and fix breath issues promptly for fresher breath.

Conclusion

Checking your own breath smell can feel awkward, but is critical for identifying and remedying any mouth odor issues before they negatively impact your social and professional life. Use techniques like cupping your hands over your mouth, licking your wrist, flossing deeply, and clearing your nasal passages. Make smell testing your breath at key times throughout your day a habit so you can enjoy clean, fresh breath.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new treatment regimen.