When getting up close and personal with someone, you don’t want to worry about your breath being anything less than fresh. It’s simple to have kissable breath every day if you follow our easy cosmetic dental tips and have the right tools.

Clinical research shows that 90% of bad breath originates on the surface of your tongue. Unfortunately, brushing your tongue with a toothbrush only moves around bad breath-causing bacteria called biofilm and spreads it to other parts of your mouth.

The solution? A tongue scraper! Sold in the toothbrush section of most Century City drugstores, a tongue scraper literally sweeps the bacteria out of your mouth. Daily tongue scraping is the best 5-10 seconds you can spend on your breath.

How to do it:

1. You can start with a tongue spray, such as the one made by BreathRx before scraping to maximize effectiveness. A tongue spray kills and loosens bacteria from the crevices on your tongue.

2.Move the scraper from the back of the tongue, where most foul-smelling bad breath bacteria live, toward the front of the mouth.

3. Rinse with water or an alcohol-free mouthwash.

And that’s it! Your loved ones and colleagues will thank you, and you might enjoy food more because tongue scraping is believed to heighten the sensitivity of taste buds. Make these steps a habit for fresh breath and optimal oral health!