Dealing With Somebody's Bad Breath

Dealing with bad breath could be a frustrating experience. If it were on you, there surely are a lot of ways, methods, and cure available to you. But what if somebody else has it?

And what if that person is so clueless about it? Can you tell him not to talk to you at all? Or would you leave the group because the speaker has bad breath? If you don't know how to deal with it, here are tips you can follow:

1. Offer him a mint.

Mints can provide immediate, although temporary, relief to bad breath. If you know for a fact that you'll be talking to somebody who has bad breath, then better be ready with a candy or two. Offer it at the moment you the person. To be safe, always keep a pack of mints in your pocket. You never know who you will encounter. And you can use it on yourself too.

2. Cut the conversation short.

This may seem impolite but if you can't stand it any longer, think of excuses for you to go somewhere else. Tell him it's an emergency. Or that you have really pressing matters to attend to at the moment and you can't possibly stay longer.

3. Pretend to be busy.

If you can't leave the area try to do something else that would distract the speaker. You can look at your pockets, check your mobile phone, or drop some coins. While this may not stop him from talking, at least he wouldn't have to drag on with his story and get the idea that you're not really interested with what he's saying.

4. Treat him to lunch.

If the person who has bad breath is an important one, like a client or your boss, it is best that you talk over lunch. If it isn't the time for meals, offer to buy him some soda or have snacks with you. That way, you can talk better because the substances in food would react with the saliva in his mouth. That's instant bad breath solution for you. Just make sure that you don't give him anything that could worsen the situation, like raw onions, perhaps.

5. Use hand gestures.

A simple wave of your hand could make the speaker get the idea – especially if he knows that he is suffering from chronic bad breath. While that's a little embarrassing for him, he can rest his doubts on the fact that maybe the hand gesture doesn't mean anything at all.

6. Tell a friend.

You can ask a close friend of the person with bad breath to tell him of his problem. Real friends can count on each other. Hopefully, you can count on this fact too.

7. Take it or leave it.

If you can't stand it, just say it. Although you still must do so politely. Try to find a way to tell a person of his breath condition without embarrassing him greatly. But if you don't have the guts to tell it out to him, then just be a brave soul and withstand it. He can't speak all his life anyway.