You tell me! It is quite an embarrassment but yes, my students do \u2018tell\u2019 me about it when I speak. Their body language is unmistakeable. Yeah, I do feel very conscious of myself when I caught their non-verbal gestures. So embarrassing!<\/p>\n
After doing some reading up on the internet, I have narrowed down the list of \u2018culprits\u2019 – 1) white coffee, and 2) teeth unflossed.<\/p>\n
I used to floss my teeth occasionally – as and when the good girl syndrome kicked it. After reading a recommendation that flossing works wonders to one\u2019s bad breath, I tried but half-heartedly. I think my condition improved somewhat on the next day. I\u2019m a religious floss-er now – it is part of my nightly regime before I go to bed.<\/p>\n
Ah, but what do I do with my favourite beverage? I\u2019m a great coffee fan. I must have a cuppa from the school\u2019s drinks stall every morning. That auntie\u2019s coffee really got power one you know. Hee. There was a period in my life when I stopped drinking coffee because of a special someone. He\u2019s a tea-drinker. Correction, he\u2019s an earl-grey\u2019s drinker. Love must be mad. I can actually live without coffee then!<\/p>\n
Anyway, I went back to coffee after that \u201choneymoon\u201d period of falling in love. Hee hee. As for causing bad breath, I found out that the acids in coffee encourage oral anaerobic bacteria responsible for bad breath to multiply quickly. To make matters worse, the milk proteins in white coffee are raw materials for these bacteria to produce the rotten-egg smelling gases. Sigh!
\nWell, I suppose I should cut down on coffee. I think I could also brush my teeth and tongue after coffee to remove traces of acids and proteins in my mouth. I read somewhere that it is impossible to remove these bacteria altogether as they live within the tongue. These are good bacteria actually. But they make their presence smelled when given certain foods or whenever we practice poor oral hygiene.<\/p>\n
A little note on coffee too. I noticed that my bad breath is more pronounced when I drink local coffees – those bought from local coffee shops, as compared to lattes or coffees from local cafes. I know that local coffees tend to be more acidic. This could be the factor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You tell me! It is quite an embarrassment but yes, my students do \u2018tell\u2019 me about it when I speak. Their body language is unmistakeable. Yeah, I do feel very conscious of myself when I caught their non-verbal gestures. So<\/p>\n