methods:The author did several kinds of tests such as oral exam, health related Questionnaire, mouth odor measurement and the blood test Subject were 197 workers who visited the department of occupational and environmental medicine, medical hospital, dankook university from september 20th, 2003 to september 30th, 2003 between 09 AM and 12 PM for the physical exam.
results:1) Among the 197 workers, 81.8% believed they had mouth odor and 18.2% believed they didn't have. 2) 65.5% of subjects believed that mouth odor was severest when they wake up in the morning. 22.9 % subjects answered than gum contributed for the their mouth odor. 3) 51.6% of subjects acknowledged that they would like to have a chance for the treatment of mouth odor if they had mouth odor. 51.6% of subjects was thinking that they had mouth odor and among them, only 7% really wanted treatment. 4) The correlation between the cause ingredients of mouth odor were very high except the relation between dimethyl-sulfide and hydrogen sulfide. 5) There was a positive correlation between the Halimeter value, CPITN index, Quantity of coated tongue, GOT value and the number of alcoholic drinks per week. There was a negative correlation between Halimeter value and smoking. 6) There was a high relationship between hydrogen sulfide, methyl- mercaptan and coated tongue(r=0.641). There was a negative relationship between methyl-mercaptan and the amount of smoking per day(r=-0.146).
conclusions:There are many factors for mouth odor such as hydrogen sulfide, methyl-mercaptan, dimethyl-sulfide, ammonia and alcohol etc. All contribute to mouth odor in combination. This topic may need more research and analysis for gathering more precise data.