Halitophobia - The Fear of Bad Breath

Halitophobics suffer from an over exaggerated fear of having bad breath although very often have never asked anyone for an objective opinion. An emotional problem severely affects the lives of approximately 1% of the adult population.
Halitophobics easily detect the smell of bad odours on other people’s breath but can only assume they also have bad breath.

Self-examination is not easy to accomplish because the sufferer often has pre-conceived ideas of how bad their breath smells and is usually over-exaggerated. Many people who suffer from halitohobia may be experiencing a bad taste in their mouths, usually a metallic or sour taste, and make an incorrect assumption of bad breath.

Self-Diagnosis

Some people are too embarrassed to ask for help or advice and try their own home methods such as:

• Breathing into their cupped hands and smelling. This often provides an inaccurate result as there due to pre-existing odours on the hands.
• Licking the back of a wrist and smelling the odour of the drying saliva is another false test. The result is often an overestimation and not effective.
• Scraping the back of the tongue with a plastic spoon and smelling the residue as it dries is a better test but because breath odours change throughout the day, the test should be done several times per day.

The most effective and reliable method is to ask a trusted friend. This is much easier than living in fear of something that may not exist.

If you are truly suffering from halitosis, go to your dentist for advice and an effective cure.