I hope that reading this article has a bit of a wake-up-call effect on you and that - if nothing else - it makes you realise that it takes time, effort and a bit of knowledge to be able to find a solution to some problems. I hope that, at the very least, these few lines are successful in explaining why you would benefit from changing your approach so that you can learn how to cure halitosis - not temporarily, but permanently this time.

A bit about myself first. I suffered from chronic bad breath for over twelve years until I finally got it right and managed to find a durable cure for my halitosis. I went round in circles for a long time, totally convinced I was actually doing all what I could possibly do to sort out my bad breath problem.

I was at one point brushing my teeth over 6 or 7 times a day, gargling mouthwash throughout the day (probably well over 10 times in a 24 h period) and I was chewing on gum or eating mints constantly (all along while I was awake - sometimes even waking up to find a piece of gum still in my mouth or, worse, stuck on my hair or my pillowcase!). Sad, I know.... This is how desperate I was to cover up my problem. I eventually came to the silly conclusion that "it must be something in my genes" and that there was no point fighting it.

In fact, two of the verbs used in the above paragraph - covering up and fighting - summarise pretty well why I was totally unsuccessful and why I was as far away from truly learning how to cure halitosis as I could possibly be. Pay close attention because this is the key: there is no point "fighting" halitosis, no point whatsoever at all. There is no point seeing halitosis as a condition or disease that needs "fighting" so that we can get rid of it. And "covering up"? Well, its definition tells us straight away that using this approach is never going to lead us to a permanent solution!

Yes, I know: perhaps some popular mouthwash brand commercial has just popped to mind with the slogan "Our powerful formula will FIGHT your bad breath from the root....bla bla bla". Yes, I know, it is just the way we talk about it....Be it marketing or just semantics, these words are totally misleading us!

Keep on "fighting" your bad breath and it will just come back over and over again - and stronger - guaranteed!! Ok, here is why. Bad breath is in fact a symptom, a consequence of other factors or conditions. Halitosis should never be looked at as a stand-alone disease that needs fighting. This approach can only lead to you constantly trying new mouthwash brands, mouth sprays, gels, gums; one after another.

You will become a slave of chewing gums, mints or mouth sprays and you will spend large amounts of money on a particular good brand of mouthwash that you will become convinced you can't live without, one that you need to use every X hours so that your breath remains on the low-end of the bad breath spectrum - temporarily of course.

It is important that you understand that a miracle product does not exist. There is no universal product that can fight bad breath permanently, not even temporarily for a period longer than a few hours (if you are lucky). There is no wonder mouthwash or gel that will treat halitosis from the root. I will say it again: there is NO MIRACLE bad breath product. I know this may sound so common sense and so patronising. But if I am honest, this irrational believe (fueled by numerous product marketing campaigns which bombard us right, left and centre) is precisely what stopped me from learning how to cure halitosis for years, so I want to make sure you get the message.

Now, you will indeed find me recommending a handful of bad breath products. Of course there are products out there that are good, much much better than others, which can help you keep your halitosis at bay. However!! One: they are no miracle products and will not, on a course in miracles now own, eliminate your bad breath permanently. And Two: the single most important step you can take before you decide to try any products at all is to ask yourself this question "Why do I suffer from halitosis?" Do not even attempt to answer "How can I cure my halitosis?" before you have got a clear idea of why you suffer from it in the first place.

I can guarantee you that, once you find out the real causes of your halitosis problem (yes, there can be multiple factors involved), you will be able to use the most appropriate treatments to effectively deal with the actual CAUSES. That is, you need to directly treat the factors / conditions that (you may not be aware you suffer from) have lead to your chronic halitosis.

Appropriate cures (truly effective ones) can range from rather expensive dental treatments (for instance, when advanced periodontal disease is present) to relatively cheap remedies such as a good dry mouth gel or increasing the daily fluid intake (for instance, if you are prone to suffer from dry mouth). Another example could be to start using an oral irrigator (very good to effectively treat gingivitis at home). Note how these examples are treatments or remedies which are specifically TARGETED to cure the individual contributing factors, rather than fighting halitosis itself.

Learn how to cure halitosis, step by step. For this, you need to learn how to identify ALL possible contributing factors; each and every one of them. Then you need to seek the most appropriate (possibly professional) treatments, specific to these factors. Once that is in place, any other general bad breath products you want to use will be a bonus that can help keep halitosis at bay