It seems like another time when I was a student, working at a dental clinic in Mumbai.
My mentor, god bless him, very sheepishly came up to me and said that he needed to discuss something important. The nerve-wracking minutes before he spoke further made me feel as though he is to announce that I have a life-threatening disease.However, he finally mustered the courage to gently tell me that I suffer from bad breath!!
My first reaction was shock and embarrassment, "I had bad breath, impossible! no one has ever said anything to me" but after my initial shock eased up, he slowly explained the causes and how he would help me correct it. It was then that I realized that it must have taken him a lot of courage to tell me what I did not want to hear but had to be said nevertheless! How many of us have this courage?
Inspired by this incident I tried to be as courageous with one of my girlfriends later in life and let me tell you it did not go down very well. In fact after a week, she broke up with me for what I assume was accusing her of something she thought she never had. When on the other hand I have known of people to break up because their partner suffered from bad breath or even body odour.
The internet is loaded with ample blogs on how to overcome bad breath, but very few discuss the art of telling your loved ones that they have it and that ignoring it would not be the solution.
We need to realise that bad breath or 'halitosis' is very common and there are simple remedies to overcome it, It just needs a courageous partner, friend, parent or maybe a teacher to point it out so that you can correct it in time before facing social embarrassment.
So my dear readers, garner your 'inner strength' and if your loved one is suffering from bad breath, it's time you tell them so, and help them correct it.
Hopefully, bad breath won't ruin a love story again!