malodour

Oral medicine-update for the dental practitioner: Oral malodour. Br Dent J 2005; 199: 498-500.

Role of saliva in oral dryness, oral feel and oral malodour. Int Dent J 2002; 52: 236-40.

Oral malodour results from tongue coating, periodontal disease, peri-implant disease, deep carious lesions, exposed necrotic tooth pulps, pericoronitis, mucosal ulcerations, healing (mucosal) wounds, impacted food or debris, imperfect dental restorations, unclean dentures, and factors causing decreased salivary flow rate.

Oral malodour arises from microbial degradation of organic substrates, such as glucose, mucins, peptides, and proteins present in saliva, crevicular fluid, oral soft tissues, and retained debris.

Hydrogen sulphide (H2S), methyl mercaptan (CH3SH), and dimethyl sulphide ((CH3)2S) contribute to the malodour. (2, 12) In addition to volatile sulphurcontaining compounds, a contribution has been demonstrated or suggested from short-chain fatty acids (butyrate, propionate, valerate), diamines (cadaverine, putrescine), alcohols, phenyl compounds (indole, skatole, pyridiene), alkines, ketones, and nitrogen-containing compounds (urea, ammonia).

The clinical assessment of oral malodour is usually subjective and is based on smelling the exhaled air of the mouth and nose and comparing the two (organoleptic assessment).

Oral malodour not only marks the sign of poorly maintained oral hygiene, but is also considered a social taboo, causing social and psychological handicap to those suffering from it.

Objective of this study was to evaluate self-perception of oral malodour by undergraduate male and female students studying in different dental colleges and institutes of Karachi and its impact on their social relations.

The social distance to a person suffering from halitosis determined people's likelihood to draw this person's attention to his breath malodour as stated by Dejongh et al.20

In many studies, including ours, the assessment of malodour relies on the subjects' self perception.

They examined 260 patients and reported that 87% of the patients had halitosis which were of oral origin, 8% of them had malodour which originated from ears, nose and throat whereas in 5% of the patients etiology was unknown.

Physical and chemical conditions of the oral cavity in producing malodour

Considerable associations have been found between oral malodour and the specific periodontal parameter.