Lick the Back of Your Wrist. Wait Ten Seconds. Smell It.

Go ahead. Nobody's watching.

Lick the back of your wrist. Count to ten while it dries. Now smell it.

I learned that from my sister-in-law Barb, who passed it along over the phone like a pie crust tip.

"That's how you find out what everybody else already knows," she said.

I laughed at her.

Then I hung up, walked to the kitchen sink, and did it.

I'm not going to describe it. If you just tried it yourself, you either shrugged, or you already know.

I had brushed my teeth forty minutes earlier.

This part fascinates me.

You can't smell your own breath for the same reason you can't smell your own house. Your nose has been living in it too long, so it stops reporting.

The wrist gets around that. It moves a little of what's on your tongue out where your nose can meet it as a stranger.

It isn't a perfect test. It mostly tells you about your tongue.

But it's honest in a way the people around you are not.

Standing at that sink, I replayed about two years.

The teller at the bank who always seemed to lean back in her chair. The pastor at the door, shaking my hand at full arm's length. My grandson, who used to whisper secrets in my ear and now just says them from across the couch.

Nobody ever tells you. They just take half a step back.

I'd noticed every one of those half steps. I had told myself I was being silly.

My wrist said I wasn't being silly.

I brush twice a day. I floss. I've done both my whole life. So I decided to find out what actually worked, and I had a way to check now.

Stronger mouthwash. Wrist test an hour later: fine. Wrist test at ten o'clock: right back.

A tongue scraper. Better mornings. Same afternoons.

Mints. My wrist smelled like peppermint laid on top of the same thing. That one almost made me laugh.

Brushing four times a day. Sore gums by Friday. Same wrist.

A dental gummy I'd seen advertised everywhere. One month, no change I could detect, and a surprise second charge on my card.

Five experiments. Every one of them was a way to get cleaner.

And my wrist kept telling me the same thing. Clean wasn't the problem.

So I looked up what I was smelling. Here's how I understand it.

It isn't food. It isn't your teeth.

It's bacteria. Specifically, the gases a few kinds of them give off.

There are around 700 kinds of bacteria that can live in a human mouth. Most of them are harmless, and a healthy mouth is full of them. But a handful, mostly on the back of the tongue where there's little air, break down bits of protein and release sulfur compounds. Sulfur is what I was smelling on my wrist.

Now here's what stopped me cold.

Neither does mouthwash. They knock everything back, the good along with the bad. A few hours later the whole crowd has regrown, in about the same proportions as before.

That's why I passed my wrist test at 8 a.m. and failed it at 10.

And overnight, saliva slows way down. Saliva is what normally rinses the crowd along. That's why the morning test was always the worst one.

I had spent two years trying to win by scrubbing harder.

Nobody had ever suggested I think about the balance instead.

When I reported all this back to Barb, she said, "Well, yes. That's why I chew one of those oral probiotics after dinner."

She could have opened with that.

I was not eager. I'd already paid for one useless gummy. So I made her read me the label over the phone.

Three probiotic strains, each one named. Four billion CFU. Xylitol, which mouth bacteria can't feed on the way they feed on sugar. One chewable a day.

And a 100-day money-back guarantee.

A hundred days suited me. It was long enough to run my experiment properly.

I did the wrist test every Tuesday morning, before brushing. Same sink. Same time.

Week one. No change.

Week two. No change. I came close to boxing it up.

Week four. Fainter. I did it twice to be sure.

Week eight. Most Tuesdays it just smells like my wrist. My breath is fresher, and I have a way to prove it to myself.

I'm one person, and that's one wrist. Yours may tell you something different. That's what the 100 days are for.

But I've stopped noticing half steps. I think it's because there are fewer to notice. It might be because I've stopped looking.

Either way, last week my grandson climbed up next to me and whispered something right in my ear.

I'm not telling you what it was. It's a secret.

It's called Stay Able Dental Support.

One chewable tablet a day, after a meal. I take mine after dinner. You chew it thoroughly instead of swallowing it whole, so it works right there in your mouth as you chew.

Here's what's in it, straight off the label.

It supports oral health and a healthy balance of bacteria in the mouth.

There's that word again. Balance. For me, that has meant fresher breath and a mouth that feels clean for more of the day.

No weird taste. Made in the USA. Rated 4.9 by customers and trusted by 4,000+.

It is not a mint. It isn't there to cover anything up for twenty minutes.

It does not replace your toothbrush, your floss or your dentist. I still use all three.

It is not a treatment for gum disease, tooth decay or anything else. If something in your mouth hurts, bleeds or has changed, see your dentist first.

And it is not overnight. It took me weeks to notice anything.

If that's you, you are exactly who I wrote this for.

One bottle is a 30-day supply for $37.99.

Subscribe & Save brings it down to $29.99 a month with free shipping. That's about a dollar a day. You can pause or cancel anytime.

I was spending more than that on mints and mouthwash.

I had already paid for one thing that did nothing. I wasn't going to order on faith.

So here's the deal. Try it for 100 days. If it's not for you, return it within 100 days of delivery for a full refund of the purchase price. No forms, no fuss.

A hundred days is more than three bottles' worth of time to make up your mind.

You can keep doing what you're doing. The mints. The mouthwash that burns. The half step back you pretend not to notice.

Or you can chew one tablet after dinner for 100 days and see for yourself. If it does nothing for you, send it back and you're out nothing.

I know which one I'd tell my sister to pick.

P.S. Do the wrist test today and write down what you think. Then do it again in a month, same time of day. You'll have your own answer, and you won't need mine.

P.P.S. If you skipped the wrist test at the top of this page, go back and do it. It takes ten seconds.

Sources: oral microbiome review, NIH PubMed Central; NIDCR Human Oral Microbiome Database; halitosis review, NIH PubMed Central; Delta Dental; Healthline.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. A supplement isn't a substitute for brushing, flossing or your dentist's advice. Individual experiences vary. Dramatization: Susan Miller is a composite character, and her story is a dramatization.