Breath for Better or for Worse

One of the things I love most about going to the dentist is seeing all the dental antiques he has collected -- from tins of tooth powder to old dental tools to ancient toothpaste ads like the one above.

This week I noticed a framed ad in the bathroom that said something like “Husbands never tell you, but you must guard against gingivitis -- brush with Colgate.”  As patronizingly old school as that was, it made me think about bad breath and toothpaste.

Growing up we always had a bootle of Listerine in our bathroom and occasionally I would swish it around in my mouth, but I never thought much about bad breath.  That is, not until I dated a smoker.  I wanted to gag every time I kissed that guy, which wasn’t too many.  But I never gave too much thought to my own breath and how it affected others.  

Fortunately I have been kissing the same person for the last almost 40 years and long ago I quit using flavored mouthwash.  I have to hope the sign in my dentist’s bathroom wasn’t true and that if I had bad breath, he would have told me by now.

There is always the question of whether to brush your teeth first if you know you are going to be kissing someone.  It’s good insurance against yesterday’s garlic, but truthfully sometimes I would prefer garlic over the sanitized taste of minty toothpaste.  

How about you?