What is halitosis?
Halitosis is a bad smell coming from the mouth or nose, which disturbs the person and the environment.
What are the kinds of bad breath?
Bad breath is generally divided into two as pathological and physiological.
Physiological halitosis
The causes of this type of bad breath are the digestive process of some foods or badly-cleaned oral cavity, irregular dentistry restorations, rotten teeth, gum problems, cigarette consumption. Because it is not systematic, it is temporary and can be controlled by solutions with toothbrush. In order to prevent the situation, it is a good solution to brush the tongue back and use mouthwash with zinc content, provided that it is not continuous.
Pathological halitosis
People with this type of bad breath are not aware of the bad smell or they tolerate it. 80-90% of halitosis is due to intraoral reasons but it can also be caused by many extraoral causes. To give an example of the causes of bad breath caused by the mouth, gingival diseases, tongue layer, food residues, oral wounds, dirty dentures, saliva reduction are some of them. Disturbances in the functions of the salivary gland can cause bad breath as well as antidepressant, antipsychotic and narcotic drugs can cause salivary deficiency. People with pathological bad breath are either not aware of the bad odor, either tolerate it or accept it. 80-90% of the pathological halitosis originates from within the mouth and 10-20% from outside of the mouth. This situation is divided into three:
Type 1: Patients of this type notice the problem of bad breath themselves and apply to the hospital around 24%.
Type 2: People with this type of bad breath notice the problem from their environment and near 50% of them apply to the physician.
Type 3: Patients of this type, on the other hand, do not be aware of their bad breath from their environments or find out by themselves, rather they have doubts or they make predictions. Most of these patients apply to their dentist by themselves.
What is Halitosis Measurement?
Halitosis measurement is performed with a halitosis measuring device called a halitometer. It helps in the planning of bad breath and determining whether success is achieved after treatment. Halitosis measurement device is used in our hospital to prevent bad breath problem by making personalized measurements.
Which department deals with halitosis?
Halitosis treatment is usually performed by specialists in the field of periodontology, one of the main branches of dentistry.
