The Health Nut Blog

How To Get Over Bad Breath

What a nightmare to find yourself in an up close and personal conversation with someone and discover suddenly that they have foul smelling breath. You can almost become sick to your stomach thinking you have to continue this conversation and god knows, you can't make some kind of horrible face about it.

This terrible smell evokes a practically involuntary response.This is a very difficult situation to be in and people usually want to run away from the offensive odor as quick as possible.  Bad breath, or halitosis, is very nasty for anyone to deal with but it is important that is dealt with on all levels both personally and as a relative, friend or co-worker of an individual with this problem.

Having Personal Responsibility

So, what is possible to do about this bad breath situation? Firstly, each person needs to act responsibly about performing good oral hygiene and taking proper care of their teeth so that bad breath can be prevented. Because of your laziness or lack of personal care, it is not fair to have friends or co-workers suffer.

Anyone who suspects or knows that they have a problem with halitosis, or bad breath, should recognize this fact and take care of the problem the best that they can.  If they aren't able to handle the problem on their own then they should definitely seek out a good dentist or doctor for professional help. Dry Mouth, a not uncommon problem, can often be the cause of bad breath smell.

Inform Others

If you are in a situation where you are faced with speaking to or dealing with another person who has bad breath, it is important that you try to advise this individual, rather than try to run away from the situation.  Occasionally a person has some kind of medical problem that causes the bad breath and they may not even have a clue about the odor or the medical problem. Be letting someone know they have bad breath smell you could actually be saving that persons life. It is important for you to do it, even though it will be an uncomfortable conversation.

One simple way to get the conversation started is by offering the person a breath mint or piece of gum and gently as possible, let them know that they may need to see a doctor and find out what the problem is.  Or you could bring up the subject of halitosis, or bad breath and talk about how serious a medical problem it can be and then offer the gum or mint.People usually should get a clue from this. Sometiems it will require a very direct conversation where you tell the person that they have bad breath and need to do something to correct it.  Although it can be embarassing and difficult it is something that must be done, especially if this is a co-worker that you have become friendly with. Supposen it was yourself and you were up for a big raise. Wouldn't you want to know before you went in to meet with the boss?

# posted by NeilG @ 6:36 AM