to be very annoyed when people, usually men(!) clean their teeth with their tongue while talking to you across the table?!

[allaflutter]

and how to politely ask then to stop? I have a new friend who does this and it turns my stomach - he does it very leisurely after even a small snack/coffee (with mouth closed of course, but you can see he's moving around his tongue inside - yuk!). I don't get it, he's otherwise well-mannered, but obviously has no clue that it's impolite and unpleasant to watch!hmm

How to tell him - and others I came across - without sounding rude? If this was a random, I'd ignore, but I like him as a person and meet quite often.

I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone do this! Not habitually anyway. Must look out for it.

Although I do have two little ulcers/spots/whatever they are right on the end of my tongue at the moment, and I cannot stop running them across my teeth and lips. I hope nobody has seen me doing it, it must look very odd.

cat - have you really never seen it? some people actually pick their teeth with their fingers after a meal but that's gross, this is more 'polite' version but still not polite at all when facing someone and to keep doing it at length - ok if extremely brief and something really is stuck in the teeth but surely best to go to the bathroom or wait till you are not face to face!
Ulcers are different - what you are doing (licking lips) doesn't associate with dirty teeth or food stuck in teeth, so not yukky to watch!

I don't think I've noticed anyone doing that either, but it does sound disgusting!