Got a health problem you don’t want to talk about? Here’s help!

Jiahui brushes her teeth every morning and evening. She cleans her mouth thoroughly with a mouth rinse, and chews mint gum regularly. But all these fail to get rid of her bad breath, or halitosis. The 45-year-old trading company executive from Hong Kong feels terrible when her boyfriend drops a subtle hint and asks her to chew gum, and finds it most embarrassing when her friends or even complete strangers notice her bad breath. “I must do something about it,” she told herself.

Almost everyone has, at some point, experienced an embarrassing health problem or another – leaking urine, smelly feet or bad breath that won’t go away. Although not life threatening, such problems can affect quality of life. What many don’t realise is that they can be cured or managed. Yet people often feel too self-conscious to speak to a doctor – and suffer in silence – even though doctors have heard it all before and are able to deal with these problems.

BAD BREATH

As well as causing stress, bad breath can be exacerbated by stress. It can also be caused by throat and sinus infections or periodontal disease. Breath can also become foul from smoking, drinking alcohol an eating foods such as garlic.
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