How can I tell someone they should go to the hygienist because their teeth are dirty

[MeganM3]

There is someone in my life who I am very close to and really don’t want to hurt their feeling. But their teeth are very dirty, deep brown marks in between every tooth, very visible thick plax and I have noticed a bad smell too.
I leant in for a cuddle yesterday and actually had to let go and move back because of the smell. Similarly today when chatting over a meal I found it turned my stomach while I was trying to eat and enjoy the meal we had prepared together.
They are mid 30s and otherwise reasonably healthy.
What can I do?

Not dental visits. Excuses for not brushing teeth!

That's not what you said though, is it.

"Going to the dentist is far less dangerous than driving a sports car.
I've never heard so many excuses, apart from laziness".

My mums teeth weren’t great. She stopped going to the dentist after one sexually assaulted her age 8

after that anything to do with teeth would freak her out, she worked hard to be able to brush them but any mention of dentist/teeth/floss etc sent her spiralling
she also refused all medical stuff so no mammogram, no smear test, wouldn’t have an operation in case she was assaulted again

I also surprisingly have dental phobia but I do go and I’ve taken out a loan to have a wisdom tooth out under sedation with a female dentist (my own dentist can’t do it)

Sometimes it's not as simple as going to the dentist or hygienist unfortunately. I have two 'fangs' at either side of my front teeth. Because they stick out the teeth next to them are stained. I get them cleaned but it doesn't remove the brown stains because they are like hairline cracks. I got whitening toothpaste and pens too and these have brought the colouring down but haven't completely removed the stains..so I would be gentle if confronting someone. I would be hurt if someone pointed it out to me. There's no more I can do and I'm not as bothered about it as I get older tbh. I would think it's a bit shallow for someone else to care about it.

There are still many people who moan they can't find an NHS dentist so they can get free treatment. It's not automatically free! If receiving universal credit then yes it's free. Anyone not entitled to UC (me) will still have to pay but considerably less than private fees.

My most recent treatment with my NHS dentist was in Band 3 and cost £326

I would just tell them "I can see plaque on your teeth, you have to go and get them cleaned. Gun disease is really painful and difficult"

And how much would it have cost through a non-NHS dentist?

My dentist does both private and NHS treatments. Not sure of his private fees but I think at the very least twice what I paid.

My husband has a fear of the dentist. Hasn’t been for years. I think his teeth are not great, so I booked him in to the dentist for this Saturday and told him if he doesn’t go then his teeth will fall out and that’s embarrassing. He actually has a job where he has to have meetings with high powered professionals, so I think it was a kick up the ass he needed. I heard him on the phone to a different dentist that deals with sedation and so he’s going to see them instead, if it wasn’t for me saying I booked him in he’d never of gone. For some people it’s not at the forefront of their mind, for me it’s very important as it’s the first thing people see.