How do you tell someone that they have bad breath and not hurt their feelings?
Sunday, September 5th, 2010 at
7:45 am
There is this man that i work with in the office. He is 30. When ever i talk to him his breath makes me want to puke! Whenever he smiles though, his teeth are pearly white, but his gums are red and a little swollen. I REALLY want to tell him that he has bad breath and needs to get help with it, but I don’t want to embaress him, or hurt his feelings. I think he is aware of his breath too, because he is always popping mints in his mouth. Help me please!
Filed under: Bad Breath
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It is quite common and as a railroad worker I encounter this a lot. First of all, you can leave them a note allowing them the privacy so that they are not offended. I use this method and it works for me. I do not place a name but leave it unsigned.
Second if you take them aside as a friend and allow them to know you mean no disrespect then proceed with the information not to offend them but make them aware of such an offense then they will see it.
Make sure you allow them to know that you had an incident yourself with that same problem and tell them how embarrassed you were.
Tell them how someone told you in public and how it felt to be belittled by it. Tell them as a friend you are trying to have them avoid that same situation and not feel ashamed by it. Most people have reasons for being that way and some are just that way but if it is a serious matter it could be they have an infected tooth as well.
You choose the method to inform them of such a thing and remember how would you feel if someone approached you?
Offer him a stick of gum or pull him aside and tell him in private.
Pull him aside to tell him. Preface your confrontation by saying the reason you are telling him is because you care and that you know he would be just as honest with you.
Give this a guy a tooth brush and some tooth paste then get him some mouth wash and a bunch of REALLY strong mints!
I would get a flyer from a dentist on gum disease and breath problems and soulutions and leave them around the office.
Maybe he would see them and take the hint.
Oh and make sure no one sees you doing it!
if you think he already knows it would be rude to point it out. although I was once in the same situation and I talked about how horrible mine was one day and he chimed in commenting about himself.. that opened the door to talk about it with him.
Well be specific…. tell him straight forward that his breath stinks… BUT IN A REALLY NICE WAY.
tell him something like: hey _____ can i be honest with u? I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but and i’m doing this the best way i can think of to not hurt ur feelings as much as somebody else would, anyways your breath has a really bad odor to it. i just wanted to let u know so u wouldn’t get hurt really bad to someone else who would just tell you what he feels.
Well he could have gingivitis, which makes your gums swollen and you get bad breathe. Take him somewhere it is just you and him. Ask him if he has a dental problem. If he says yes then give him these tips.
1 brush your teeth morning nite and afternoon
2 tell him to use crest prohealth
3 floss before brushing
4 tell him he might want to get a new toothbrush.
If he says no then tell him gently that he might want to go to the dentist. everyone deserves to know if they have a problem worth fixing. I was in the same position a couple of weeks ago. She ended up thanking me for telling her about it.