Dental hygiene, please help

Okay so as extremely disgusting and revolting as it is.. I think I may have bad breath. I'm not going to lie, I definitely have NOT taken the best care of my teeth at all, mainly due to personal struggles like depression. Now I am doing my best to take great care of my teeth and gums. I brush, floss and use mouthwash twice a day. Will this fix the problem? I'm still really young (teen) and I'm gonna be honest and say thinking about suffering from bad breath forever makes me want to die. I know that I have done this to myself. But now I am really really happy with how my life is going and I just wanna live my life but this really has me stressing like crazy. I find it horribly disgusting when others have bad breath so thinking about myself having it is just unbearable.

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Comments ( 12 )
  • Sanara

    I think if not much damage has been done to your teeth yet, it will probably be enough to just maintain good dental hygiene from now on. It may help to flush your mouth with clean water after every time you finish eating or drinking something other than water. Also try to scrape away tooth stone if it can easily be done (not too much force). I found that minimal discoloration on teeth may actually disapear if you take better care of it. If your teeth are actually rotting or gums are very inflamed then you most likely need to see a dentist to fix it

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  • Thank you all for the help. I'm gonna be going to the dentist very soon to get some stuff fixed up and I'm absolutely positive that is what is causing it. I've never suffered from bad breath before, so it really caught me off guard. Thanks again!

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  • FromTheSouthWeirdMan

    Getchu one of those tongue scrapers at walmart. Alot of times its the bacteria on your tongue that holds the bad breath. Also do you have any bad teeth? If you have a tooth that needs to be pulled it will put off a very bad smell

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  • Ellenna

    You say you think you may have bad breath: do you have someone in your life you'd trust to tell you the truth if you asked them about this? Whatever, keep up the dental hygiene anyway - due to poverty & parental neglect in my childhood, I ended up with a top denture in my 30's and now a bottom denture which I can't even wear because it's too uncomfortable. False teeth are no fun: kissing has never been the same and I can't eat many foods.

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  • Bazinga

    It is counter-productive for a dentist to give you too much preventive advise. That said, I'll tell you what a dentist will never say.

    1. The worst bad breath bacteria live on the back of your tongue closest to your throat where you can't brush. You can eliminate this with a tongue scraper available at Walmart or a chemist's shop. They're cheap. Here is a link to an image so you know what to look for.
    https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/tongue-scraper-19413713.jpg

    2. An electric toothbrush is an essential investment. If it saves only one cavity it pays for itself. Phillips Sonicare is a good brand.

    3. You probably breathe thru your mouth while sleeping like I do. This causes terrible breath and also terrible tooth decay. It's an easy problem to fix. Use a Dry Mouth Oral rinse before going to bed. There are name brands and inexpensive generics. Here's a picture. Get some right away.
    https://ibb.co/QmrC0RF

    4. Eventually, you will get gum pockets causing root decay that you can't see. Your roots break and the tooth falls out. You can prevent this with a Water Pik water flosser. It will clean the pockets where dental floss can't reach.

    5. Occasionally, digestive reflux can contribute to bad breath. A teaspoon of Pepto Bismol is the first line of defense for that.

    6. These things will likely fix the problem. But if your breath makes painted walls blister like Godzilla, there's a special toothpaste called Oxyfresh that neutralizes sulphur compounds. Google it up if needed. It's pretty expensive but highly effective and available on the Internet.

    Your dentist will never tell you about this stuff because he will lose thousands of dollars in future business with you. I learned all this stuff after it was too late. Don't be like me.

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  • BlackButler

    I went through a bad depression where I didn’t floss for months and ended up getting a horrible infection around an implant and stage one gum disease. So now they have to do something called “scaling” where they cut open the gun and clean out the infection. If you can afford it, it’s worth it to start clean again. Also ask dentist for a mouthwash called CHLORHEXIDINE GLUCONATE it kill the bacteria on the gums and helps with the breath a lot. Make a good two time a day habit of brushing and flossing, look up OIL PULLING to soothe and calm inflamed gums, it’s rather nice. After lunch too I always floss and do an oil pull because flossing hurts now that the damage is done. Get a tongue scraper. Make a list of basic self care tasks that must be accomplished during times of lethargy and depression such as eating, hygiene and walking in nature. Bad breathe is also the result of poor digestion and eating the wrong foods do research gut Health and consider taking an HCI supplement if you aren’t digesting well and having gas, not pooping often etc. drink apple cider vinegar. Don’t chew gum with sugar in it, get the gum that cleans your teeth a bit.

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  • junies

    I find that there are a lot of people that ignore scraping their tongue. It grosses me out when I am talking to someone and see they have a thick layer of crud on their tongue. This is one of the top reasons why people have bad breath. I scrape my tongue at least once a day and can't believe the amount of crud that builds up in 1 day.

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  • freakyman69

    I have always brushed and flossed twice a day and I still sometimes have bad breath. Just chew some gum, that's what i do.

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  • litelander8

    You’re dental health with affect your brain. Get some coconut oil and swish it like mouth was every couple days. You could probably pay out of pocket for a professional cleaning. If it’s that bad, it may be worth it.

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  • Mammal-lover

    My mom stopped caring for her teeth under the same excuse. Guess what shes only 40 and is missing half her teeth. Mostly the back teeth so she cant eat most foods. Brush your damn teeth people.

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  • SmokeEverything

    Eat mints or something. Once your teeth start rotting its tough to kill bad breath smell.

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  • MaxineFinnFoxen

    In have the same issue... I'm still stuck with not being able to get myself to take care of my hygiene

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