How to Smell your own Breath

Why is it hard, Why do it, and how to do it

At one time or another a person may want to be able to smell their own breath and check to see if it is fresh or not. You may find that it is difficult to detect your own breath. In this article we will cover why you cannot smell your own breath very well, why you might want to check you breath, and methods on how to be able to smell it.

Why you can't smell your own breath

It is very difficult for people to smell their own breath because a person becomes acclimated to their own breath, or in other words they get used to it so they don't notice it anymore.

Have you ever been to a persons house that smells bad because they have a lot of cats or animals? If you tell the owner their house stinks they might be surprised or say they don't even notice it. The fact that we become acclimated to smells is evident.

Our brains are designed wisely and have us become acclimated to smells so we can notice new smells easier. If we never became acclimated to smells it would be hard to smell new things such as food or flowers because our sense of smell may be overwhelmed by the smell of our breath or surroundings.

It is often easy to smell other peoples bad breath, because we aren't acclimated to theirs. If someone you know who is close to you has bad breath all the time, read our article on How To Tell Someone They Have Bad Breath.

Why check your own breath?

The obvious reason you would want to check your breath at a certain time is to find out if at that moment your breath is fresh or not. You may want to do this before a meeting, social gathering, or date.

Another reason you may want to smell your own breath is to determine the effectiveness of various oral care products. There are various types of mints, gums, mouthwashes, and toothpastes on the market now that promise fresh breath and it is apparent that some work better than others. You may want to test which products are the best for you by checking your breath after using them.

When testing products it is important not to check your breath immediately after using them because your breath will just smell like the product. Check your breath 1-3 hours after using the product, but make sure you haven't eaten or drank anything other than water since using it. Record your results for each product and be sure to be consistent with testing products to produce accurate results. Check your breath after using each product at the same time. For example if you brush your teeth with Crest toothpaste and check your breath after 1 hour, then make sure when you test a different product such as toothpaste from Colgate that you check your breath precisely after one hour as well.

Eating relatively the same food before using the product is important as well. For example if you are testing toothpastes and one day you eat garlic cloves for breakfast and then you brush your teeth and check your breath and then the next day for breakfast you have bacon and eggs and then you brush your teeth and check your breath, I am willing to bet the despite the effectiveness of either toothpaste your breath will be worse on the day you had those pungent garlic cloves for breakfast.

Methods on how to smell your breath

Here are various methods you may use to check your own breath. Some may work better for you than others so experiment and see what works.

Hand-Cupping Method

This is one of the most popular yet least effective methods. To do this method you breath into your cupped hand and sniff immediately after. It is not effective because we are acclimated to our own breath. In order to be able to better detect your own breath it is important to remove the source of the odor from your mouth and then smell it.

Wrist Method

Make sure your wrist is clean and doesn't smell like perfume, cologne, or sweat. If it does wash it and let it dry. Lick your wrist with your tongue and wait 10 seconds. Smell where you have licked on your wrist. If it smells bad then your breath probably smells bad, if you smell nothing then your breath should smell fine.

Cheek Pulling Method

Pinch your cheeks and pull them out away from your teeth. Push them back towards your teeth. Repeat this a few times faster and sniff at the same time. If you smell a bad odor, then your breath is probably bad.

Tongue Swab Method

Take a spoon, q-tip, cotton-swab, toothpick, or finger and gently rub the far back of your tongue, the further back the better. Set the object aside and wait a minute. Then smell the object you rubbed your tongue with. Your breath probably smells like what the object smells like.

Swabbing Your cheeks

This is the same as the Tongue Swab Method but instead of swabbing your tongue you swab the insides of your cheeks.

Smelling Dental Floss or Toothpicks

This method is not as reliable as the others but does give you a good idea if there are particles or compounds in between your teeth that are causing odors and bad breath. What you do is use the floss or toothpick as you normally would and then smell it after using it.

Closing Note: One of the easiest and most accurate ways to know if you have bad breath is to ask someone else you know closely. If you discover that you do have bad breath, please read our article on What Causes Bad Breath and then our article on How To Get Rid of Bad Breath. With time and effort you will greatly reduce your bad breath and have greater confidence around others.

Below in the comments let us know what method worked best for you or if you have discovered a method that works better. Thanks!