A simple trick might mean you'll never leave the house in the morning with bad breath again - and it's been backed up by experts.
Many of us will wake up and realise our mouth is... not the freshest.
While a dentist has revealed a simple trick to check if you have bad breath so you know if you need to start loading up on mints, wouldn't it be better if we could just nip the problem in the bud.
Now, bad breath has also sorts of causes: eating strong-smelling foods (obviously), gum disease, crash dieting, smoking, and some health conditions.
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But there's also one morning habit most of us are guilty of that can give us toxic-smelling breath.
TikTok user@josezunigaimprovement decided to provide a little oral health advice on the internet.
He explained in the clip that if you brush your teeth immediately after eating breakfast, you are damaging your teeth.
He said: "When you eat, you introduce acidity to your mouth and it takes a while for it to go away.
"If you brush your teeth after eating, when your teeth and gums are more sensitive, it will damage them, causing them to bleed and ultimately giving you bad breath."
He shared that you should wait 30 minutes after eating to brush your teeth to keep them clean, and if you don’t have that time to spare, try his trusted trick.
He said that drinking water, swishing it around your mouth for around 30 seconds and then spitting it out is the key to avoiding damaging your teeth.
Claiming that it’ll give you ‘good breath, always’, the influencer stands by his advice.
His advice is backed up by oral health experts too.
For instance, toothpaste brand Colgate explained that ‘orange juice and coffee are notoriously acidic’ and brushing your teeth right after eating or drinking these acidic foods can damage your tooth enamel.
If you are a person who eats or drinks those foods, you can brush after breakfast and wait half an hour.
But if you don’t have the time to wait, then brushing before you eat is the way to go.
Colgate shared that if you brush before you eat, you can rely on mints throughout the day to keep fresh.
According to Ezzard Rolle, DDS, assistant professor of dental medicine at Columbia University’s College of Dental Medicine: “We definitely recommend holding off on brushing after consuming anything acidic, whether it's fruit, soda, juice, or sour candy.
“The reason for that is that when acids are in the mouth, they weaken the enamel of the tooth, which is the outer layer of the tooth.”
But the recommendation that the TikToker gives to bypass waiting that long by using water?
The American Dental Association recommends that drinking water or chewing sugar-free gum after eating and before you brush is a good idea.
So, maybe he’s not wrong after all.
Britt Jones