Halitosis, to give bad breath its medical name, which affects many human beings, with research suggesting that 98 per cent of us suffer from it at some time in our lives. But the good news is that yet much one hate the thought of having bad breath, it is a temporary condition and one can banish it for good.

Even though an initial attack may be down to something one has eaten, the actual long-term cause tends to be poor dental hygiene. The very first thing to establish is whether the problem is temporary or not.

Major culprits of the temporary bad breath are onions, garlic, spicy foods, alcohol and cigarettes. Infrequently the problem can also be caused by throat or sinus infections, catarrh or even just a bad cold.

Factors that influence

In fact, any condition that makes you breathe through your mouth, rather than your nose, even if it's only for a short period, may cause bad breath because there's more chance that the salivary secretions, which act as a rinsing agent, dry up.

This is exactly what happens at night because we do not eat for around eight hours, the saliva slows down and leaves us with a dry mouth. The result is the dreaded morning breath. Other factors that can influence just how sweet our breath smells are our hormones is the increase in estrogen during menstruation affects mouth odor as well as hay fever and snoring.

The reason is that if we don't manage to clean our teeth probably, plaque is a thin bacterial film builds up around the teeth and gums and if not removed regularly, it can cause decay that, in turn, causes bad breath.

Conclusion

In the morning when you brush your teeth, also gently brush your tongue. This will scrape away any bacteria and will have the effect of freshening your breath as well as both the taste and smell of your mouth.

Tongue scrapers are obtainable at most chemists but, alternatively, you can use a toothbrush, dipped in mouthwash for cleaning your tongue. Although statistics reveal that around 85 per cent of cases of halitosis are related to the mouth, if you've suffered with bad breath for any length of time it's important to check out the cause, rather than simply masking it with mouthwashes and mints.

Although rare, bad breath can be a sign of problems with the sinus, stomach, kidneys, liver or lungs. Which is why your first stop should be your dentist - if only for reassurance or simply to make sure that you treat the root of the problem, rather than just the cause.