What’s a polite way to tell someone they have bad breath?
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at
3:48 pm
One of my friends has really bad breath and when he sits or stands next to me I can smell it and it makes me feel sick. I want to tell him his breath is bad but I don’t want to offend! Help please!
Filed under: Bad Breath
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
ask him some technical question about bad breath, saying" do you know not brushing is not the only cause of bad breath"
tell him that you found a good way to find if you have a bad breath, jsut lick your palm, wait for a few seconds and then smell it, if you can smell anything, you got a bad breath. ( a real practical test)
Hand them a piece of gum.
"Your breath stinks, here, please take some gum". Do this while backing up.
offer them a mint
Just offer gum nicely like its just a gift.
Start a conversation with him about oral hygiene and go from there. While you’re at it, hand him a handful of mints. Good Luck!
just tell his smelly ass that his breath stank, someone gotta do it. JUST DO IT!!!! not like hes gonna hate you.
offer them a mint.
Just pull out some gum if he doesn’t ask, offer, insist.
Offer a tic-tac or gum. If that doesn’t work I would just tell them the truth. I would tell them in private so they don’t get embarrassed.
Tell him. You’re not helping by avoiding the situation. He probably doesn’t know that he’s offending everyone. He needs to know and probably wonders why people reject him all of the time.
Soften it with, "I need to tell you something as a friend, but I’m afraid I might hurt your feelings…"
If he doesn’t take action after that conversation, either keep some gum or mints handy to offer him all of the time or start making more obvious faces that he’s offending you until he "gets" it.
Does he do basic Hygiene, like brushing his teeth? eeeewww! I hope so.
mail them a bottle of scope, anonymously. And if they ask you why you are wearing a respirator and mask, tell them.
ASK HIM TO BRUSH HIS TEETH
Offer them gum or a tic tac
Carry breath mints. Get them out, take one yourself and hand him one.
would you care for a mint?
Right after I got out of college, the guy I worked for had really bad breath. If was sickening. So, one morning, I went in the office early, and I put a large bottle of Listerine on the credenza behind his desk. He must have used it because his breath began to smell better.
About 3 weeks later, they had a layoff and the guy walked me. I often though that someone saw me put the Listerine in his office and told him. But, he did me a favor, I got a new job and made more money.
Just pull out some gum and say "want some?", but in a nice way. People never turn down gum. Ever.
You absolutely HAVE to tell him. How would you feel if you were alienating people with your bad breath and no one said a word? Personally, I’d want to know.
You are going to have to work through your discomfort. Just tell them that as a friend you feel you had to say something.
I try to have a Tic Tac or breath mint in my pocket and offer it. His bad breath could be caused by a chronic medical condition or because of something he ate. A worked for a guy that had the most disgusting coffee breath in the morning and that was when he would stand close to you and whisper.
It could be because he needs to brush his tongue and bacteria and food particles stay on it and in his mouth. If so, his tongue would look coated.
The Mayo Clinic says it could be caused by: food; dental problems; dry mouth; diseases; mouth, nose and, throat conditions; tobacco and severe dieting.
Sometime when you are alone with him, offer him an breath mint and ask him if he has any health problems because he has bad breath and you are concerned because of the medical conditions that cause it. That might divert him from hearing: your breath stinks.
offer him a mint like an altoid
Offer them a mint when you see them, but have a mint for yourself as well. Or maybe bring the conversation around to you saying that have a minor obsession for mints/gum because your paranoid about your bad breath.” make it casual and natural