Article
Specialist referral may be indicated if the Practitioner feels:
Oral malodour
Oral malodour, or halitosis, is a common complaint in adults, though few mention it, and can have a range of causes (Table 1). With oral malodour from any cause, the patient may also complain of a bad taste.
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Common causes of oral malodour
Oral malodour is common on awakening (morning breath) and then often has no special significance, being usually a consequence of low salivary flow, lack of oral cleansing during sleep as well as mouthbreathing.
This rarely has any special significance, and can be readily rectified by rinsing the mouth with fresh water, eating and tongue brushing. Hydrogen peroxide rinses will also help abolish this odour.
Oral malodour at other times is often the consequence of eating various foods such as garlic, onion or spices, foods such as cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower and radish, or of habits such as smoking, or drinking alcohol. Durian is a tropical fruit which is particularly malodorous.
The cause of malodour in such cases is usually obvious and avoidance of the offending substance is the logical and best prevention.
Less common causes of oral malodour
Poor oral hygiene (Figure 1) and oral infections can be responsible for oral malodour. The micro-organisms implicated in oral malodour are predominantly Gram-negative anaerobes, which include:
Gram-positive bacteria have also been implicated since they can denude the available glycoproteins of their sugar chains, enabling the anaerobic Gram-negative proteolytic bacteria to break down the denuded proteins. The Gram negative bacteria can produce chemicals that produce malodour, which include in many instances:
The evidence for the implication of other micro-organisms, such as Helicobacter pylori, is scant.
The posterior area of the tongue dorsum is often the location of the microbial activity associated with bad breath. Debris, such as in patients with poor oral hygiene, or under a neglected or poorly designed dental bridge or appliance, is another cause. Any patient with a dry mouth can also develop oral malodour.
Defined infective processes that can cause malodour may include:
Improvement of oral hygiene, prevention or treatment of infective processes, and sometimes the use of antimicrobial therapy can usually manage this type of oral malodour.
Rare causes of oral malodour
Systemic causes of oral malodour are rare but important and range from drugs to sepsis in the respiratory tract to diabetes (Table 2).
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The complaint of oral malodour in the absence of malodour
The complaint of oral malodour may be made by patients who do not have it but imagine it because of psychogenic reasons. This can be a real clinical dilemma, since no evidence of oral malodour can be detected even with objective testing, and the oral malodour may then be attributable to a form of delusion or monosymptomatic hypochondriasis (self-oral malodour; halitophobia).
Other people's behaviour, or perceived behaviour, such as apparently covering the nose or averting the face, is typically misinterpreted by these patients as an indication that their breath is indeed offensive. Such patients may have latent psychosomatic illness tendencies.
Many of these patients will adopt behaviour to minimize their perceived problem, such as:
Thus the oral hygiene may be superb in such patients. Medical help may be required to manage these patients.
Such patients unfortunately fail to recognize their own psychological condition, never doubt they have oral malodour and thus are often reluctant to visit a psychology specialist.
Summary
Oral malodour can have a range of causes, though most cases of true malodour have an oral cause, and many others are imagined.
Diagnosis of oral malodour
Assessment of oral malodour is usually subjective by simply smelling exhaled air (organoleptic method) coming from the mouth and nose and comparing the two. Odour originating in the mouth, but not detectable from the nose, is likely to be either oral or pharyngeal in origin. Odour originating in the nose may come from the sinuses or nasal passages. Children sometimes place foreign bodies in the nose, leading to sepsis and malodour! Only in the rare cases in which similar odour is equally sensed coming from both the nose and mouth can one of the many systemic causes be inferred.
Specialist centres may have the apparatus for objectively measuring the responsible volatile sulphur compounds (methyl mercaptan, hydrogen sulphide, dimethyl sulphide) – a halimeter. Microbiological investigations such as the BANA (benzoyl-arginine-naphthyl-amide) test or darkfield microscopy can also be helpful.
Keypoints: malodour (halitosis)
Management of oral malodour
The management includes first determining which cases may have an extra-oral aetiology.
A full oral examination is indicated and if an oral cause is likely or possible, management should include treatment of the cause, and other measures shown in Table 3.
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In cases of malodour which may have an extra-oral aetiology, the responsibility of the general dental practitioner is to refer the patient for evaluation to a specialist. This may involve an oral medicine opinion, an otorhinolaryngologist to rule out the presence of chronic tonsillitis or chronic sinusitis, a physician to rule out gastric, hepatic, endocrine, pulmonary, or renal disease or a psychologist or psychiatrist.
Patient information and websites
http://www.tau.ac.il/~melros/