Why do I have bad breath?: the causes and treatments.

Many people think they suffer from bad breath. Are you one of them ? It is actually quite hard to smell your own breath. One good trick is to lick the back of your hand wait 30 seconds and then smell the back of your hand or you could just ask a close friend.

So what causes the smell?

In 85 - 90% of cases the smell is caused by the bacteria that are living on the back of the tongue. These bacteria live in the hairs on the back of the tongue and produce horrible chemicals when they break down food particles which in turn produce the smells. These are called volatile sulphur compounds or VSC. If you look at the back of your tongue you will notice it is rougher and it has more hairs this is generally the area where the malodour originates from.

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