Having bad breath is something that benefits no one. So how come there are so many people out there with foul smelling mouths? This is simply due to ignorance about how to keep our mouths clean and also ignorance about the causes of bad breath. Did you know that up to 90% of the cases of halitosis are caused by bacteria that lives on the tongue? So this means that brushing our teeth alone is not enough to guarantee that we have a fresh smelling mouth. Of course, this is not the same as saying that brushing our teeth is not important, it is.

To keep our mouth smelling good is not difficult. There are steps that each person can take. However it is not enough just to not want bad breath, we have to do something about it. In effect, bad breath is unfortunately the default unless we take appropriate remedial action.

A good oral hygiene routine involves the following four steps. You can mix up the order, but missing any of the steps means your breath will suffer.

1. brush your teeth
2. use dental floss
3. wash your mouth with a mouth wash
4. clean your tongue with a metal tongue scraper

There are many people with good intentions that only do steps 1 to 3. This is certainly a good start. But because bad breath is often caused by bacteria that lives on our tongues we still have a potential problem. This is why using a metal tongue cleaner to pull off the layer of gunk from our tongues can really help to improve the condition of our mouths.

Not only does it help to make our breath smell better but cleaning our tongue means that we are then able to taste the food we eat. It benefits the people around us as well as ourselves.