Do you have bad breath (halitosis)? Frankly, it is quite possible for anyone to have bad breath, yet not be aware of it. The reason for this is due to our body own acclimation whereby our noses filter out the odor that lies in the back of our mouth, making it difficult for a person to detect his or her own mouth odor.

To really know whether if you suffer from bad breath, try the following 5 tests and find out if you have bad mouth odor.

1. Stand in front of the mirror and stick your tongue out as far as possible. If you notice that the very back of your tongue is whitish, it may be a sign that you have bad mouth odor.
2. Another easy and convenient test you can do anywhere is to lick the back of your hand, wait for the saliva to dry and then smell it. If you smell a bad odor, you may have bad breath.
3. To test for halitosis, you can also run a piece of dental floss between your back teeth and then smell the floss. If you can smell an odor from a distance, it would be a good indicator of the level of odors that other people might detect when talking with you.
4. One quick method that dentists use to test for bad breath that you can also try at home is to wipe the top surface of the tongue with a piece of cotton swab and then smelling the odor on the cotton. If the cotton swab also produce a yellowish stain after you wipe your tongue, it's likely you have a high concentration of volatile sulfuric compounds (VSC), an indicator of chronic bad breath.
5. If possible, one of the best and most honest ways to test whether if you have bad mouth odor is to ask the opinion of someone close to you or whom you can trust. The truth may be ugly but the answer will definitely be an honest one.