A person having bad breath himself may not know about it because our nose gets habitual to the smell of our own breath, so it is not perceived. So, a person may get to know from a companion about his bad breath. In case you feel that you have bad breath then you are self check it by applying these facts on to yourself.
Following are some ways to test your breath
To test the quality of your breath, lick your wrist and let the saliva dry for about 5-10 seconds and then smell it. It tells about how the anterior (front) portion of your tongue smells.
Now, scrape the posterior (back) portion of tongue with back side of a spoon, the whitish material scraped off is allowed to dry for 5-10 seconds and then smell it. It will tell how the back portion of your tongue smells.
Halimeter: This is an instrument for detecting the quality of breath. Halimeter measures the level of volatile sulphur compounds (VSCs) in the person’s breath. So, it can detect only that bad breath which is due to presence of VSCs in the saliva. Thus it does not provide a definitive diagnosis but has certain advantages:
- It is portable
- It is very easy to use
- Measurements can be made quickly
Gas Chromatographs: They are not portable and difficult to use. They are generally used by investigators conducting studies on halitosis as they provide gold standard evaluation for measurement of breath.
BANA test: This test identifies microbes present in the saliva which cause halitosis. Bacteria which produce enzyme that degrades BANA (Benzoyl-D-L-Arginine Naphthylamide) an be detected using this test.
Chemiluminescence: This test also measures VSCs present in the bad breath. When saliva containing VSCs is mixed with a mercury compound, the product formed shows fluorescence confirming presence of VSCs in the saliva and hence halitosis.