Everyone suffers from bad breath at some point in their lives. This isn't particularly pleasant for you to live with; you may also worry about what other people think if your breath smells nasty. One of the easiest ways to freshen up your mouth is to chew a piece of gum. While any gum will make your breath smell better, some flavours are more effective than others. Which flavour gives you the best chance of dealing with your bad breath?

Gum For a Short-term Fix

If you're simply looking for an immediate fix for bad breath in the short term, then a mint gum is a good option. Regular mint, spearmint and peppermint flavours are all relatively strong, allowing you to hide the smell of bad breath behind a more acceptable aroma. These options are good if you are having a bad breath day after a garlicky meal or if you want to freshen up your breath during the day between brushing.

Gum For a Longer-term Fix

While a minty gum will make your breath smell fresher for a while, these flavours don't necessarily give you a solution that will last all day. While mint flavours will cover up bad breath smells, they don't remove them from your mouth. Typically, once the minty smell wears off, your bad breath smell will start to become more obvious again.

For a longer-term solution, you can try chewing a gum with a cinnamon flavour. The natural oils in these gums have the ability to actually get rid of some of the bacteria in your mouth that cause bad smells rather than just hide them with a different smell. This could reduce your bad breath smells by up to 50%, giving you a longer term solution to bad breath days.

Things to Consider

It's important to make sure that any gum you chew doesn't contain sugar. Any gum can freshen up your mouth and keep it smelling nice; gums with a sugar content can, however, also lead to dental problems such as decay if you chew them regularly.

While occasional bad breath isn't unusual, you should be more concerned if your breath smells bad all the time even if you aren't eating or drinking stuff that usually turns up in your breath later. If you're suffering from bad breath that won't go away, it's worth visiting your dentist to make sure that you don't have any underlying issues with your teeth or gums.

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