1. Approximately a quarter of the world’s population suffers from regular (or chronic) bad breath.

2. More than half of adults wake up to bad breath in the morning.

3. The majority of people don’t brush their teeth effectively or properly. It takes about three minutes of brushing to clean the residue from your teeth and gums and reach the cracks and crevices. Unfortunately, most people only brush until their mouth fills up with foam from the toothpaste (only 30-40 seconds on average), and even more fail to floss. Good dental hygiene, meaning adequate brushing and flossing at the very least, will go a long way toward eliminating bad breath by getting rid of the bacterial pockets that form unwanted sulfur compounds.

4. Bad breath usually originates in the back of the mouth, where colonies of anaerobic bacteria feed off decaying and putrefying food particles, many of them stuck in the crevices of the tongue.

5. Your mouth is host to over 200 different kinds of bacteria — and as many as half of them are found in the hard-to-reach area in the back of the tongue.

6. We usually don’t inflict our bad breath on others until we start to speak. Bad breath, which typically comes from the back of the tongue, doesn’t move forward and out of the mouth until we begin talking.

7. It’s a myth that you can detect your own bad breath simply by paying attention to the smell and taste inside your own mouth. For most people, this is simply impossible, due to a process called “habituation” - becoming accustomed to your own odors over time.

8. Many of the foods found in a normal meal can lead to temporary (or “acute”) bad breath. Two common culprits are onions and cabbage, both of which contain plenty of sulfur compounds, much like the foul-smelling residue left over from anaerobic bacteria.

When we digest the foods containing sulfur compounds, we absorb the compounds into our bloodstream. Some are carried along into our lungs, and eventually, we exhale them through our mouth.

9. Nothing’s more hospitable for bad-breath causing bacteria than a dry mouth. Thus, saliva is your secret weapon against halitosis, acting as a natural mouthwash. Saliva washes away bacteria and bad-smelling volatile sulfur compounds. You can increase the amount of saliva in your mouth by drinking plenty of water and keeping your body well hydrated.

10. Excessive sleeping, low-carb dieting, long-term fasting or even talking for extended periods can lead to dryness of the mouth and an increased likelihood of bad breath. In addition, certain medications or drugs, drinking alcohol, or “mouth breathing” can dry out the mouth, making the problem worse.

11. Bad breath can put a cramp in your social life and even do serious harm to your career. Bad breath is a significant social handicap that can damage your social, sexual and vocational life.

12. If your bad breath appeared suddenly, or is growing noticeably worse over the last few days or weeks, or was accompanied by fever, cough, or other medical symptoms, you should make an appointment with your doctor to look for underlying medical causes.