Imagine driving down a country road on a beautiful afternoon.  All of the sudden, you see an accident ahead.  You pull your car over and run to the scene.  You notice that a man that isn't breathing and doesn't have a pulse.

You decide to begin CPR.  After 30 chest pushes, you lean down to give two short breaths, just like you learned in your CPR course and all of the sudden, the man lurches up and begs you not to breathe your nasty breath into his lungs.

Not everyone wants to wait until situations like these to find out if they have bad breath.  Luckily, you don't have to!

Here's five simple ways to find out if your breath stinks.

Five Ways To Find Out If You Have Bad Breath

1 – Ask a Trusted Friend

This is the quickest, easiest, and probably most accurate way to find out if you have bad breath.  If you don't feel comfortable asking anyone, then why not ask your dentist next time you go in for a visit?  If you do have bad breath, your dentist will be able to help you determine the cause so that you can be on your way to breathing out fresher air.

2 – Scrape Your Tongue and Smell It

You could use a tongue scraper or even a spoon to do this.  Alternatively, you can use a Q-Tip, cotton swap, or a piece of gauze and run it along your teeth, tongue, the inside of your cheek and on your gums.  Then take it out of your mouth and smell it.

Scraping your tongue is a good habit to get into because it can help get rid of bad breath when you scrape your tongue daily.

If you're in a pinch, take a tooth pick and scrape it between a few of your teeth and then smell it.

3 – Use a Breath Testing Kit

There are new pocket bad breath testing kits being developed that will easily let you test your breath.  This can be a good option if you are uncomfortable asking someone else and want a reliable answer to the question of whether or not your breath smells.

Another option is a professional breath tester, known as a halimeter or sulfide meter.  You'll probably have to go to a doctor to get your breath tested with a with one of these high-tech devices, which makes me wonder why you wouldn't simply ask your doctor.

4 – Hand Cupping

Hand cupping is a popular method.  Simply cup your hands around your mouth and breathe out.  Try to get a nice, slow, humid breath out and then breathe it back in with your nose.  With this method, you need to assume that your breath is a bit worse than it smells because we usually get used to our own odors.

5 – Lick the Back of Your Hand

Simply lick the back of your hand, wait a few seconds, and smell it.  If it smells offensive then chances are that your breath is offending those around you.

Any Other Methods?

These are the methods that I've heard of, but I'm sure there's more out there.  If you know of any other ways to find out if you have bad breath or if you want to share your experience detecting your bad breath, go ahead and leave a comment below.  Thanks for reading!

Tags: Bad Breath & Halitosis, Halitosis