The one thing you're NOT doing that's giving you bad breath.

There are many curious pockets of TikTok. You may have found yourself deep in a timeline watching a scandalous marital story unfold, or perhaps you've been watching the tradwives make plum jam from scratch.

But then there are the less salacious areas of the social media platform that are perhaps not very sexy but... actually incredibly informative.

Let us introduce ToothTok.

That's right, the dentists of the world have migrated over to TikTok and they're sharing their dental hygiene hacks.

London-based dentist Dr Shaadi Manouchehri has become somewhat of a dental influencer on TikTok thanks to her helpful videos giving tips and tricks for those playing at home. With almost 270,000 followers it's safe to say she's successfully found an audience that may have otherwise scrimped on dentist visits, and therefore had poor dental hygiene.

Dr Manouchehri is pulling some big numbers on TikTok, but one of her most recent viral videos has gone gangbusters and it's all thanks to her tips on attacking one of our most dreaded dental afflictions: Bad breath. (Ew.)

The video — which has now racked up 13.7 million views — gives advice on how to fix stinky breath and we're sorry to say but her main tip is something we *probably already know* we should be doing.

"I'm going to give you some life-changing advice that probably no one is going to tell you because they love you too much and they don't want to embarrass you," says Dr Manouchehri of her fresh breath tips. 

Okay harsh — but we're listening. And even we can admit we're not doing at least one of these things...

1. Clean your tongue.

"Cleaning your tongue is the most important thing you can do as well as brushing your teeth," says Dr Manouchehri. 

"The bacteria that causes bad breath sits on our tongue and if you look at your tongue right now it's probably coated in some white stuff if you haven't been brushing it." But, she adds, "If you use a normal toothbrush to do this, it's not good enough. You need to be using a metal horse-shoe tongue scraper.

"You use it twice a day, every single day, morning and nighttime to get rid of all the bacteria and gunk."

Consider us both grossed out and educated.

2. Stay hydrated.

"If you are dehydrated, sulfur compounds are created in the mouth and they smell really bad," says the dentist. 

"So if you're not drinking enough water or you're having too many things that are making you dehydrated, like tea, coffee or smoking, things like that, then you need to be drinking a lot more water."

3. Floss.

"You're probably not going to like me for saying this, but the last thing you can do is floss," says Dr Manouchehri. 

Oh, you floss already? Great to hear. But buddy — how many times a day are you flossing? Because once might not be enough to save you from stank breath...

"If you're brushing without flossing you can actually be pushing food between the contacts of the teeth, which means they're going to smell even more. So, I need you to floss at least once a day, preferably twice a day."

Sure, it may add a couple of minutes to our morning and evening routines, but for the sake of flowers not wilting when we open our mouths? We say, worth it.

Watch: TikTok dentist gives advice on how to get rid of bad breath. Story continues below.

And it seems Dr Manouchehri might have gotten through to some people, because there were some very positive comments popping up on her helpful vid.

"I have started using a tongue scraper recently and it is a game changer. My mouth feels different. I love it," wrote one of her followers.

"Water flossing and tongue scraping is a game changer! I’m obsessed," wrote another.

And if you're thinking it might be time to book an appointment with your dentist, we agree, because let's be real, ToothTok is helpful — but it can only take you so far.

Feature Image: TikTok/@drshaadimanouchehri, Paramount Pictures.

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