Social Health

It gets better when we make it better. At HIM, we have a pretty simple idea: gay men with high self-esteem tend to live healthier lives and have access to better health choices. We're interested in improving social health factors that impact gay men, including the big-picture stuff like homophobia and heterosexism. We also have listings for our Professional Volunteers who specialize in social health.

Bad Breath Boyfriend

Posted by HIM on Sunday November 21st, 2010

So you've been cruising a cute little number at Numbers the Cabaret, giving him the deliberate twice over from across the room. You haven't put on your beer goggles yet, so cute is still on the menu. Unfortunately, when you get up close and use your smoothest introduction, his breath causes your long dormant gag reflex to trigger.

Garlic and onions may be the culprit, but Greek food is too good to give up. Since no one likes being told their breath smells of cigarette, food or ass, how do you politely tell your friend/trick/boyfriend their breath stinks?

Real Bad Breath Cures is a site set up to sell breath improvement products, but it also offers some helpful advice on how to be honest with those you want to kiss, but can’t get past the smell.

Or you could just slip mouthwash into his Vodka Tonic or garnish his Mojito with breath mints...

- Keith

Bad Breath Boyfriend

He’s sweet. He’s caring. He’s a bunch of fun. He loves kissing you but there’s one problem. Your boyfriend’s breath stinks. What do you do about it? Do you break up with him? Do you constantly keep breath mints and chewing gum on hand? Those aren’t the right answers. We’ll help you AND your boyfriend get through this.

First off, you need to know that your boyfriend needs someone to let him know he has a problem in a caring and compassionate way. It’s possible your boyfriend doesn’t even know he has bad breath. It’s possible he’s been wandering around all these years making everyone around him a bit queezy with his bad breath. Who knows, he could have been going on his entire life being the “smelly breath guy” and not even know it. Everyone who converses with him fears the up close and personal chat because they know they’re going to get sprayed in the face with a toxic vapor so strong even the devil couldn’t think up something so heinous and foul.

You may also want to consider the thought that your skunk mouth boyfriend knows he has bad breath. When a person knows they have bad breath, they do one of two things. A person who knows they have bad breath will brush their teeth and rinse with mouth wash constantly. You can find a person who has bad breath will always have gum and mints on hand. This is the person who is miserable about their condition, and is literally altering the way he functions because of his chronic halitosis. He may talk out of the side of his mouth, avoid up-close conversations, avoid intimate kissing or “make out sessions” unless he has just brushed, rinsed, popped in some gum or a mint, and feels like his foul mouth odor is masked. The other personality taken on by someone who has bad breath is the type that just doesn’t care. You rarely see him brushing or doing anything else to help his bad breath. The one who is trying is miserable. The one who isn’t trying just doesn’t care or has tried for a long time and has simply given up on the notion that he will ever have fresh breath again.

What you should do is pay attention to your boyfriend’s behaviors over the next week or two. Find out if he knows he has bad breath. A sure sign that he is aware of his bad breath is constant gum chewing or sucking on breath mints. If you’re confident that he is aware that his breath stinks then here’s what you can do to let him know, to help him, and to not hurt his feelings or put him on the defensive.

Mention to him that you are self-conscious about your breath and that you think it smells offensive. He may open up and tell you he feels the same way about his. You can let him know that you have noticed that sometimes his breath does smell bad and assure him that it doesn’t really bother you but if he wants to learn more about what could be making his breath smell that he should read The Bad Breath Bible. This is a free ebook which gives a near limitless amount of information about why people have bad breath and what they can do about it. Alternatively, you can download the bad breath bible yourself and forward it to him in an email or print it up for him to read.

When you don’t leave him alone on Stank Breath Island, he will be much more comfortable talking to you about his ailment.

You must remember that when someone has chronic bad breath, and they’re aware of it, they can act defensive, ashamed, guilty, and embarrassed.