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Saturday, March 3, 2012

What to do about bad breath before a fasting blood test

So it's morning and you've just woken up after fasting for 8-14 hours preparing for your blood test. However, you have the worst case of bad breath and you want to save the poor medical lab staff and other patients in the waiting room from the foul odor of your chronic halitosis. So what you can do about it without interfering with your blood work?

I talked to my local medical lab, B.C. Biomedical Labs, and asked what your options are. They indicated that you can do three things:

  1. Brush your teeth, tongue and roof of your mouth then rinse thoroughly to minimize swallowing any toothpaste.
  2. A little bit of mouthwash is acceptable but spit and possibly rinse with water to minimize swallowing any of the mouthwash.
  3. Do nothing. Go in with bad breath and all but have a mint or some gum handy for after your test is over.

Of course the best thing to do is to call and speak with your doctor and/or medical lab before hand to confirm what is acceptable.



7 comments:

  1. Fasting really makes our mouth smelly. It's really important to clean our teeth and to maintain good oral hygiene. These are great tips that I could use before I go for a blood test.

    cosmetic dentist Marietta

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  2. Not eating or missing a meal can indeed give us bad breath. According to our dentist in Goose Creek, the saliva we produce during eating helps break down or fight germs and bacteria in the mouth, which then prevents bad breath.

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  5. I agree with Geoff. That is also the same advice my dentist in jackson tn has told me about.

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