It is horrible to find oneself in a close conversation with someone and become suddenly aware that the person they are talking to has horrible smelling breath. It can almost make someone feel nauseous to continue the conversation and it is almost impossible not to make a facial expression that communicates disgust.

The odour is so bad that people automatically respond adversely. This is a really hard situation to handle and most people try to move away from the disgusting smell as fast as they can. There is no doubt that bad breathe is hard for others to deal with, but as a friend, co-worker or relative of the person with the problem it is essential that it is dealt with.

Personal Responsibility

What can an individual do to personally try to solve this problem? Caring for your teeth and practising good oral hygiene helps prevent bad breath, and is the personal responsibility of every individual. Making sure that others do not suffer from another person's laziness and lack of personal hygiene is just common courtesy. The fact should be recognized by the peoples having the problem of bad breath, and they should take care of the problem in the best way they can. Help of professional doctor or dentist should be taken, if they find it difficult to handle the problem on their own.

Tell Others

When a person is faced with speaking or dealing with another person who has bad breath it is important to address the situation rather than get away from it. Sometimes a person has a medical problem that causes them to have bad breath and they are completely unaware of the odour in their mouth or the medical problem. By telling someone they have bad breath a person can be saving another person's life. Even though this may be a difficult conversation to initiate it is important.

One easy way to address the situation is to offer the person a piece of gum or a mint and gently tell them that they may need to see a physician to discover what their problem is. Or a person can bring up the subject of bad breath and talk about its seriousness and then offer the mint or gum. This should help most people understand they have a problem. Some people will require a very direct statement telling them they have bad breath and need to do something about it. All though this is a hard thing to do it is something that needs to be done.