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Oral Health Made Simple: Your Prescription For Knowledge
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Step 1 Prevent ProblemsSimplestepsPrevent Problems
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Bad Breath: Many Causes, One Main Solution
April 4, 2005

By Nancy Volkers
InteliHealth News Service

INTELIHEALTH - Bad breath has many causes, but in most cases, good oral hygiene can solve the problem, says research from the University of Milan, Italy.

Researchers collected data on 109 people complaining of bad breath. Each person was interviewed and received a clinical oral exam. Researchers also did several tests to see if they actually had bad breath, and if so, what the cause might be.

They found that 13 people (12%) did not actually have bad breath. (People who believe they have bad breath, but who actually don’t, are said to have pseudo-halitosis or halitophobia.) An additional 14 people (13%) had ear, nose or throat conditions that caused their bad breath. Treating these conditions is the first step in treating this type of bad breath.

The other 82 people (75%) had bad breath with oral causes. They were given a professional cleaning, instructions on oral hygiene (including tongue brushing), and were prescribed a solution containing the medicine chlorhexidine to use as a rinse and gargle twice a day.

After two weeks, tests showed that in 85% of the people, bad breath had been significantly reduced, if not eliminated.

It is estimated that 25% to 50% of adults have persistent malodor. Most bad breath has an oral cause, but some cases are due to a systemic (bodywide) condition.

The study appears in the March issue of the journal Oral Diseases, which highlighted the proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Breath Odor.

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