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[Halitosis--foetor ex ore]
G Delanghe1, C Bollen, C Desloovere
1Abteilung für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Halschirurgie des Universitätsklinikums, Leuven, Belgien.
Background:
An overview is presented on the etiology, diagnosis, and therapy of halitosis.
Methods:
Results are given of our multidisciplinary halitosis outpatient department started in 1994. The team consists of ENT specialists and paradontologists, occasionally assisted by a psychiatrist. The oral odor is confirmed with a halitometer (Interscan Corporation, Model RH-17E USA). 491 Patients, nearly the same number of males as females, mostly between 20 and 50 years of age were seen.
Results:
Oral causes (87%) were due to tongue coating (51%), gingivitis (17%), paradontitis (15%), or combinations of factors (17%). The other 13% involved causes related to ENT problems (4%), both ENT and oral (3%), digestive tract (1%), and presumed psychiatric pathology (5%).
Conclusions:
Many patients underwent diagnostic and therapeutic aimed interventions to no avail prior to their arrival in our halitosis clinic. Usually advising the patient to maintain better oral hygiene is sufficient.