very bad breath and won't brush his teeth

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my aspie roommate always has very bad breath and won't brush his teeth except for once or twice a week. he KNOWS he has foul breath. he KNOWS he is supposed to brush his tongue and his gums. you can smell his nasty breath 1/2 way across the room.

i remind him daily. i have a note on the bathroom mirror. i tell him that girls like guys who smell good, etc...

he worries he will never find a girlfriend, partner, lover (whatever you call it) but he walks around the planet smelling like funk.

and he just refuses to have fresh breath. when i remind him, he says "ok" but he does not actually do it.

he went to the dentist last week and she warned him about gum disease and other problems that come from poor oral hygiene.

basically, his breath is disgusting and i don't want to kick him out (he pays no rent to live here) but i can't deal with his stinkiness much longer. at this point, it feels like stubborn disrespect and laziness.
we are very close friends but, because his mouth odor is so foul, i don't want him near me these days and he won't adapt.

advice?

did you try buying him mouth wash ?

I did a little google search and found far more that I ever wanted to know about bad breath! However, there is little progress about you knowing about it if he doesn't feel like cooperating. Good luck, Aspies are known for dental neglect.

http://www.doctorspiller.com/halitosis.htm

There are essentially four sources of bad breath:

The mouth: This includes the teeth, the gums, and the top surface (dorsum) of the tongue, especially the very back of the tongue. Since this type of bad breath is the most common, its diagnosis and treatment will be covered extensively.

The term for odors from the mouth is Fetor Oris (not halitosis)___Fetor means "a strong offensive smell" and is a generic term. Oris means "from the mouth". Fetor oris is a strong 0ffensive smell originating specifically from the mouth.

Fetor Oris is the most common type of bad breath and accounts for about 80% of all cases. If you are young and generally healthy, the chances are good that your problem falls into this category.

The structures in the mouth that can harbor bad breath are:

The teeth

The Gums

The tongue (especially the back of the tongue)

The upper respiratory tract: This includes the nasal cavities, sinuses, throat, tonsils and the larynx (voice box).

The term for bad breath from the upper respiratory tract is ozostomia

Ozostomia is the second most common type of bad breath, and is most commonly associated with post nasal drip, but can be associated with infections of the various organs in the upper respiratory tracts as well, including sinusitis, sore throat and laryngitis.

The lungs: Bad breath originating from the lungs is either a temporary phenomenon caused by consuming certain foods or drugs, or it is a chronic problem caused by disease processes.

Stomatodysodia is the term for bad breath caused by outright disease processes in the lungs, such as various infections, emphysema, bronchitis or lung cancer.

Halitosis is the term for bad breath that results from physiologic processes elsewhere in the body and carried to the lungs by the bloodstream, or to the mouth by chronic vomiting.

The stomach: Technically, this type of bad breath is a subcategory of halitosis, but one that does not originate from the lungs. Bad breath originating from the stomach is caused by disease processes which produce chronic vomiting.

I've had a rough time getting my sons to keep up with their teeth brushing. My older son is pretty relaxed about his bad breath, and yet he managed to find a wonderful girl to marry him. I can't quite figure that one out, because I often think he smells horrible. When he was a teenager, and I suggested that he brush his teeth and tongue more often, he would roll his eyes at me. I'm guessing that he did brush his teeth more, though, when he was dating and trying to be attractive to the opposite sex. . .

With my younger son, I've really tried to make brushing his teeth part of his daily routine. I don't have to fight him on it too much. It's just the concept of having bad breath after eating something in particular that is problematic for him -- he's into toothbrushing as a routine, but not aware of when his breath is bad.

This roommate of your sounds older, and more entrenched in bad habits. Can you buy him tic tacs, and hand them to him every morning to carry in his pocket? That's what I did with my older son. It doesn't help with dental health, but it might make him a more pleasant roommate (and might help him a little with the women).

My younger son had an aversion to mint flavor that makes it hard to find toothpaste that he could tolerate. Most toothpastes come in a variety of minty flavors, and some of them are pretty strong. I ended up getting him fruit-flavored Tom's of Maine children's toothpaste that he used until he was much older than the usual target audience. He also seemed to tolerate an orange-flavored gel, forget the brand, that came in a little bottle. Now that he is grown he tolerates a very mild mint prescription extra-high-fluoride toothpaste. (To replace the enamel that eroded due to not brushing enough in earlier years.) He also turned out to have some serious tooth decay problems that, when treated, eliminated a lot of the objectionable odor.

I'm wondering if your roommate has sensory issues with common spicy, strong toothpastes that might be mitigated by a judicious choice of toothpaste.

Have you ever thought this could be sensory related and not laziness?

As Polgara said, it could be the flavor but would mostly likely be the feeling of the toothbrush. I have no idea how to fix such a problem, but it's something you can ask him about. If this is the case see if you can get him to use mouthwash. Also why not just tell him you won´t tolerate it any longer if he doesn´t start now?

Could be it.

I think there was some English King who refused to bathe more than once a year because he was overpowered by the fragrances and soap smells. I forgot which one.

great link to halitosis...thanks...and good suggestions about flavor or sensory issues.
he picked out his own toothpaste at target and he said he liked that flavor the best...
i dunno about y'all but i brush all my teeth, front and back, my gums, and every part of my tongue. i have brushed my teeth WITH HIM in the bathroom. i have brought my toothbrush into the living room while he's watching TV and he's watched me brush for 5 minutes...
the times he is willing to brush, i hear the brush/water for about 10 seconds and it's over.
but he intellectually KNOWS what to do. he just won't do it.

schleppenheimer- way awesome your son found a wife in spite of bad habits. this gives me hope for my roomie.

he's a very young adult (fyi) and i'm a middle aged married teacher who rescued him from a situation of abuse/neglect.

I think the OP should tell him straight out that his breath smells so bad that if he doesn't do something about it, he can move out!

lene,
i have told him a zillion times but he really doesn't have anywhere else to go.
can he move in with you? he's very cute, entertaining, brilliant, funny and quiet most of the time (loner).

I'm very impressed that you took him in. I'm sure that he's a nice boy, but bad breath is bad breath!

schlep- thanks for the compliment. i had to take him in. i was the only person he knew with an extra bedroom in their house. it's the first time in his life he has had his own room with a door he could shut. it's been really healing for him. he lived his entire life in one room with a drug addicted parent ...laundry was done once every 6 months....etc...

Buy him gum and/or breath mints?

lol, sorry nope! Maybe you could slip tic-tacs into his breakfast cereal...

To be honest it might be a pain sensory I've always had strong teeth and have neglected dental responsibilities sometimes and getting back in is always painful. I can't imagine how sensitive to the poor guys gums. Regardless he needs to start before he looses his teeth and has to spend a fortune on dentures. You could get a number of people who feel similar to you, tie him down and brush his teeth for him (get a long handled brush) repeat until he starts doing it on his own.

At first I thought you might be my roommate!

I think Polgara has the answer... at least it's the reason I don't brush. Mint toothpaste is actually painful for me. There was an orange flavor, even a lemon one I think, but they aren't around any more. I much prefer having unbrushed breath than peppermint breath. Mouthwash is just as bad as toothpaste.

Strangely, I don't have as much problem with wintergreen flavor. Crest has a flavor "wintergreen ice," which isn't as bad as the mint.

Also tell him to keep his tongue out of the way, and to try not to get any toothpaste on it. It hurts. And rinse several times, get that awful taste completely out of his mouth as quickly as possible.

I can't understand why anyone would want to have peppermint breath!