Bad Breath? Chew on This.

We’ve all been there. Your talking to someone and they slowly back away. You start to think, do I smell? Well, the truth is, you just might. Fortunately, there are three foods most likely already in your kitchen that can help keep your mouth healthy, according to Mary Tavares, a senior clinical investigator at Harvard’s Forsyth Institute.

Cheese photo via Shutterstock

Hard cheese: Follow dinner with a cube of hard cheese to reduce mouth acidity, which helps prevent tooth decay and enamel demineralization.

Parsley image via Shutterstock

Parsley: Flush away sugars with raw carrots, green peppers, and cucumbers, which boost saliva production. Then chomp a bit of parsley to freshen your breath.

Gum photo via Shutterstock

Sugarless gum: Chew a piece of sugarless gum sweetened with xylitol to help prevent tooth decay (it picks up food particles lodged between teeth).