Here is my story. As a freshman I never really saw it as a big deal. I thought it would go away sooner or later, so I'd just constantly chewed gum all the time. It was really hard too. Every time I'd pull out my gum pack, ten people would ask for a piece. I chewed it 24/7 and always feared I'd get lock-jaw somehow lol. I'd go through a pack a day, and loved those sugary gums (which I later found out makes it worse).
When I became a sophomore the bad breath situation became WAY worse. I had to transition from gum to mints, because I blew through a pack of gum a day. With mints I could go through a tin in a week, which saved me lots of money. I HATED the taste of mints too and that's all I could ever suck on. As I learned sugars like Skittles & Starburts were bad. Every time one would began to dissolve in my mouth, I'd have to pop in another one quickly. I would always start to feel that gross feeling in my mouth without the mints. The worse thing though is how close all the desk are in school. You're literally face-to-face with people all day, and I loved talking so I'd have to turn my face slightly away at times. I came across this website after being tired of sucking on mints. It was kinda depressing how I could build huge towers with the empty tin cans that accumulated in my room. I had stumbled on this website, and read about TheraBreath. It cured some people's bad breath, and others swore by it. So I bought the mouthwash and toothpaste, happily thinking this was going to be it. TheraBreath is ok, I like it. But it doesn't cure it. Maybe for two or three hours, but I'd have to pop in a mint after a while. Then I heard about tongue scrapers, that didn't do much justice. Also I tried TheraBreath mints and I liked those. They mask the odor without that strong mint taste. The smell isn't of some strong mint either. It taste a little funny like minty citrus but I prefer those mints out of all the ones I tried. Except I don't really like the package. It reads "I have bad breath" all over. And they're individually wrapped, so it's embarrassing having to pop one in with the packaging obviously stating you have bad breath. A whole box at Walmart lasted me a month, but I never bought it again because it's kinda embarrassing to buy (I'm a really shy person).
During Junior year, I kinda gave up and just told myself that I would eat mints for the rest of my life. I spent COUNTLESS hours researching how to cure my bad breath. Night and day, as it was a big deal as classroom desk were so close to each other. At one point I believed I had tonsil stones, but I didn't. I also read about it having to do with noses (post nasal drips or something) but it didn't I just wanted to give myself a reason why my breath smelt so bad. I cut out dairy for a little while because people said it could have to do with what you ate but that didn't really help either.
And for a period of time I was really depressed. I never went to sleepovers or hung out really because I didn't want people smelling my breath (I didn't want to randomly keep popping in mints while talking to my friends). I also wasn't really close to people, I always distanced myself. After some time it started to get worse my tongue at the end of every day was yellow! Not like I just licked a lemon lolipop, but almost a yellow/orange like I ate cheetos (gross I know). I really had given up at that point, I just ate mints. I searched everyday for answers most with smart ass answers like "just use a tongue scraper. YOU DON'T THINK I DO THAT?? Someone even said it was my gums stinking. That day I brushed my gums so hard they bled, and I had open sores on my gums for a week (it hurt so bad, I couldn't eat anything). Then one day I stumbled across another badbreath forum and someone suggested Acidophilus. Which helps with bad breath, lactose intolerance, immune and digestive system. I tried it, and the next day I didn't even realize that I went the whole day without needing a mint. YES! I didn't realize my breath stunk. Usually I get this icky dry mouth feeling, but it was gone. And my mouth was neither dead white, or yellow. Here's what I did :
Open capsule and dump small amount in a table spoon of water. Stir and dissolve. Flood your tongue with dissolved probiotic for a minute on your tongue and throat and swallow. Swallow the remaining capsule.
My tongue is now a healthy red-ish pink.
I also heard you can just swallow it in pill form, or pearl.
Like I said I promised myself that I'd post somewhere how I fixed my bad breath, and I sincerely apologize if someone has said this method before. I hope this works for someone!
I hope everyone one this forum one day finds their cure.